I was just a toddler at the time, but fast forwarding 20 years found me in the audience of University of Connecticut’s Jorgensen Auditorium hanging on to every word spoken by Christine Jorgensen, who was presenting a lecture at my school.
I was taking Journalism 101 and our professor randomly assigned stories to us budding reporters and I just happened to get the Christine Jorgensen assignment. As a closeted crossdressing 21-year-old, I was thrilled, but had to feign disinterest so as not to give anything away!
I attended the lecture and was in awe of the woman, who used to be a man. I had seen photos, but had never encountered a trans-person in person, at least, not to my knowledge. Seeing Christine up on the stage giving her talk was my first trans-encounter and it was a very positive experience. There was no doubt in my mind that Christine was really a woman and it gave me pause that maybe I was one, too.
Thank you Mikki for reminding me about this anniversary.
 |
| Wearing New York & Company |
 |
| Virginia (from France) standing next to the Christmas tree she had just decorated. |
 |
| Brandy relaxing and contemplating what might Santa bring. |
It only takes the envy caused by a story like Christine Jorgensens to make some one realise they could be TG as well
ReplyDeleteLucy
St. Christine,
ReplyDeleteI remember talk about her, often made in mocking or disparaging conversation, My friend Johnny M told me one day about this one person, Christine Jorgensen. He detailed how he became she. It never left my mind. It was possible, though I would learn not acceptable to the society and family I lived in.
A conundrum as Jan Morris would write years later.
I was in 7th grade when I found Christine Jorgensen's biography in a yard sale I bought it for 10 cents and hid it in my room I read every page of that large adult level book.
It disappeared one day from it's hiding place, I wonder what Mom was thinking when she found it?
Today in a different environment perhaps, it would have been a clue and a more progressive parents would have reached out?
Perhaps......
Paul G
Paul, I also had a mother who scoured my room for "contraband". I would hide (or so I thought) such material deep in a pile of Sports Illustrated mags or another place,, but Mom always found them. When I discovered Confidential Magazine and its' regular focus on crossdressing men I had to be very careful about hiding them. I had a lighted football game that had a large space in the box below the playing surface. Mom never found that one!
DeleteI also got creative in hiding forbidden items. In my case they were Playboy magazines. There were two places where I hid them:
Delete1. Under the furnace. The furnace was mounted on cement blocks, and there was a loose block that I pulled out, stashed the magazines, and then put the block back.
2. On the upper surface of ceiling tile. There were two adjacent rooms in the basement, one that was unfinished, and the other that was finished. I tied fishing line to the magazines and from the unfinished room, tossed the magazines into the joists of the finished room. I could retrieve them by pulling on the line.
Nobody else found those magazines.
John
As a child, every night I went to sleep wishing to wake the next day a "girl". I learned of Christine Jorgensen in 7th grade and it literally scared me so that I put away "girl" wishes for a long time. It was one thing for it to be a wish, another for it to be a possibility. I guess at that age I was not as committed to the option as I thought.
ReplyDeleteStana, thanks for the "part of our history" visit.
Here is the book, now a collectors item, 340 pages, that held an 11 year olds interest Paul G
ReplyDeleteI had to be very careful, all hell would have been let loose if any of the articles I wanted to keep had been found
ReplyDeleteAll I could do was commit them to memory
Pictures were about the same as on Google Images today
Lucy
I was 10 years old and that news had a profound effect on me. It was the first time that I realised what was "wrong" with me. We had a so-called newspaper in those days called "The News Of The World" (in the UK) which delighted in denigrating stories like those of Christine. My parents often hid it from me as it was colloquially known as "The News Of The Screws".
ReplyDeleteFrom this end of my life I can only thank Christine and others like her for showing me that I was not alone.