I'm guilty of something that I am ashamed of. Sometimes when I talk about lgbt equality, I forget about "t" - our transgender brothers and sisters.
Therefore, I thought I should feature Christine Jorgensen, the first person to become widely known for receiving sexual reassignment surgery. Jorgensen was not the first person to receive sexual reassignment surgery, but in 1952, a cover story in the New York Daily News made her a celebrity and her willingness to be open and forthcoming with such dignity and poise made her an icon as far as I am concerned.
But what particularly makes Jorgensen a heroine of mine is her determination to live her life on her own terms, particularly in a time in which such things weren't as open as they are now.
She teaches us a lesson we should all remember.
Past Know Your LGBT History posts:
Know Your LGBT History - Stephen Stucker
Know Your LGBT History - Coming Out
Know Your LGBT History - Prayers for Bobby
Know Your LGBT History - Roy Cohn
Know Your LGBT History - Gladys Bentley
Know Your LGBT History - Wanda Sykes
Know Your LGBT History - William 'Billy' Haines and Jimmy Shields
Know Your LGBT History - The Dynamic Superiors
Know Your LGBT History - Jack Fertig (Sister Boom Boom)
Know Your LGBT History - Bugs Bunny
Know Your LGBT History - The Jeffersons (a repeat)
Know Your LGBT History - Homoeroticism in Fright Night
Know Your LGBT History - New York passes marriage equality law
Know Your LGBT History - Leonard Matlovich
Know Your LGBT History - Liberace
Know Your LGBT History - A brief history of gay relationships
Know Your LGBT History - Bessie Smith
Know Your LGBT History - Josephine Baker
Know Your LGBT History - Clara Ward and Willie 'Little Axe' Broadnax
Know Your LGBT History - Venus Xtravaganza
Know Your LGBT History - LGBTs who are changing the world for the better
Know Your LGBT History - Danitra Vance
Know Your LGBT History - Oliver Sipple
Know Your LGBT History - Gay Rights, Special Rights
Know Your LGBT History - Alan Turing
Know Your LGBT History - Bayard Rustin
Know Your LGBT History - Billy Preston
Know Your LGBT History - Sylvester
Know Your LGBT History - Billy Tipton
Know Your LGBT History - Nell Carter
Know Your LGBT History - James Baldwin
Know Your LBGT History - Paul Winfield
Know Your LGBT History - Barbara Jordan
Know Your LGBT History - Michael Jeter
Know Your LGBT History - All in the Family and Beverly LaSalle
Know Your LGBT History - The Lion in Winter
Know Your LGBT History - Saturday Night Live and 'Schmitts Gay'
Know Your LGBT History - Brother to Brother
Know Your LGBT History - Shameless
Know Your LGBT History - Car Wash
Know Your LGBT History - The 37th anniversary of 'Flowers of Evil'
Know Your LGBT History - The Best Way To Walk
Know Your LGBT History - The Jackal
Know Your LGBT History - A Cage Without A Key
Know Your LGBT History - In & Out
Know Your LGBT History - 'The Fabulous Gays' of Steambath
Know Your LGBT History - Bound
Know Your LGBT History - Gay characters from children's television show and movies
Know Your LGBT History - Gay documentaries, past and present
Know Your LGBT History - The Hotel New Hampshire
Know Your LGBT History - The Crying Game
Know Your LGBT History - Set It Off
Know Your LGBT History - The Wedding Banquet
Know Your LGBT History - Bachelor Party
Know Your LGBT History - Starsky and Hutch
Know Your LGBT History - The Naked Civil Servant
Know your LGBT History - Partners
Know Your LGBT History - All in the Family: Cousin Liz
Know Your LGBT History - Rebecca
Know Your LGBT History - urban African-American movies
Know Your LGBT History - Charles Pierce
Know Your LGBT History - Torch Song Trilogy
The Best of Know Your LGBT History
Know Your LGBT History - Masters of Horror - Sick Girl
Know Your LGBT History - MadTV
Know Your LGBT History - Gimme A Break
Know Your LGBT History - Not Another Gay Movie
Know Your LGBT History - My Beautiful Laundrette
Know Your LGBT History - The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Know Your LGBT History - I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry
Know Your LGBT History - The Gay Deceivers
Know Your LGBT History - Reflections in a Golden Eye
Know Your LGBT History - Dynasty
Know Your LGBT History - Milk
Know Your LGBT History - Black Shampoo
Know Your LGBT History - Never Too Young To Die
Know Your LGBT History - All About Eve
Know Your LGBT History - Hotel
Know Your LGBT History - The Streets of San Francisco
Know Your LGBT History - Two looks at transgender characters in films
Know Your LGBT History - Flawless
Know Your LGBT History - Mahogany
Know Your LGBT History - Beverly Hills Cop
Know Your LGBT History - Some Like It Hot
Know Your LGBT History - Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia
Know Your LGBT History - Dirty Laundry
Know Your LGBT History - The Willie Witch Project
Know Your LGBT History - Spartacus
Know Your LGBT History - Caged
Know Your LGBT History - The Birdcage
Know Your LGBT History - Maude
Know Your LGBT History - That Certain Summer
Know Your LGBT History - Boat Trip
Know Your LGBT History - Staircase
Know Your LGBT History - Beautiful Thing
Know Your LGBT History - Armed and Dangerous
Know Your LGBT History - The Proud Family
Know Your LGBT History - Suddenly Last Summer
Know Your LGBT History - Gay TV Now
Know Your LGBT History - Stewardess School
Know Your LGBT History - Up the Academy
Know Your LGBT History - Don't be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood
Know Your LGBT History - A Different Story
Know Your LGBT History - Victim
Know Your LGBT History - The Color Purple
Know Your LGBT History - Making Love
Know Your LGBT History - A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge
Know Your LGBT History - Noah's Arc
Know Your LGBT History - Adorable Adrian Adonis
Know Your LGBT History - The Night Strangler
Know Your LGBT History - All in the Family
Know Your LGBT History - Tongues Untied
Know Your LGBT History - The Celluloid Closet
Know Your LGBT History - Querelle
Know Your LGBT History - Theatre of Blood
Know Your LGBT History - Strange Fruit
Know Your LGBT History - Designing Women
Know Your LGBT History - The Children's Hour
Know Your LGBT History - Sylvester
Know Your LGBT History - Once Bitten
Know Your LGBT History - The Boys in the Band
Know Your LGBT History - Christopher Morley, the crossdressing assassin
Know Your LGBT History - Midnight Cowboy
Know Your LGBT History - Dracula's Daughter
Know Your LGBT History - Blacula
Know Your LGBT History - 3 Strikes
Know Your LGBT History - Paris Is Burning
Know Your LGBT History - The Women
Know your LGBT History - Soul Plane
Know Your LGBT History - The Player's Club
Special Know Your LGBT History - Fame
Know Your LGBT History - Welcome Home, Bobby
Know Your LGBT History - Barney Miller
Know your lgbt history - The Jerry Springer Show
Know your lgbt history - Martin Lawrence and that 'gay guy' on his show
Know your lgbt history - The Ricki Lake Show
Know your lgbt history - Which Way Is Up
Know your lgbt history - Gays in Primetime Soaps
Know your lgbt history - Boys Beware
Know your lgbt history - The Boondocks
Know your lgbt history - Mannequin
Know your lgbt history - The Warriors
Know Your LGBT History - New York Undercover
Know Your LGBT History - Low Down Dirty Shame
Know Your LGBT History - Fortune and Men's Eyes
Know your lgbt history - California Suite
Know your lgbt history - Taxi (Elaine's Strange Triangle)
Know your lgbt history - Come Back Charleston Blue
Know your lgbt history - James Bond goes gay
Know your lgbt history - Windows
Know your lgbt history - To Wong Foo and Priscilla
Know your lgbt history - Blazing Saddles
Know your lgbt history - Sanford and Son
Know your lgbt history - In Living Color
Know your lgbt history - Cleopatra Jones and her lesbian drug lords
Know your lgbt history - Norman, Is That You?
Know your lgbt history - The 'Exotic' Adrian Street
Know your lgbt history - The Choirboys
Know your lgbt history - Eddie Murphy
Know your lgbt history - The Killing of Sister George
Know your lgbt history - Hanna-Barbera cartoons pushes the 'gay agenda
'Know your lgbt history - Cruising
Know your lgbt history - Foxy Brown and Cleopatra Jones
Know your lgbt history - I Got Da Hook Up
Know your lgbt history - Fright Night
Know your lgbt history - Flowers of Evil
The Jeffersons and the transgender community
5 comments:
I for one have always loved these posts, and appreciate the inclusion whenever possible/appropriate.
Thank you for finding these!
Most transgendered people identify as heterosexual.
Most transgendered people identify as heterosexual.
Source? Personal experience and wikipedia say otherwise:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgender_sexuality
Research, such as that done by Walter Bockting at the University of Minnesota, suggests that the breakdown of sexualities among transsexual women is 38% bisexual, 35% attracted to women, and 27% attracted to men. (Star Tribune May 25 2008 "Myths and Facts about Transgender Issues").[7] Older research had suggested that the majority of transsexual women seeking sex reassignment were attracted to men. About half of trans women studied have sexual intercourse with women.
And of course that 27% still spent a huge chunk of their lives living as a homosexual and/or being perceived by one by society before they began their transition. They have just as much at stake in this movement as LGBs.
Alvin, you should be ashamed. You should be ashamed of promoting the lie that being transgendered is definitionally linked to being gay. LGBT promotes old stereotypes. The term didn't exist before the mid-1990s. You have unthinkingly bought into it and now you berate yourself for forgetting to promote the very stereotypes that you should be opposing.
@Unknown:
In trying to defend the indefensible, you have insulted Ts not once but twice. First, transgender is not synonymous with transsexual as you assume. Moreover, even if those stats are right, it doesn't justify lumping the whole group, including all the heterosexual Ts, in with LGBs. By that logic, all florists should be added and an F should be appended to the growing alphabet soup.
Second, transsexuals do not spend "a huge chunk of their lives living as a homosexual." A trans woman is a woman. She never lives as a homosexual even if she never transitions. You insult Ts in order to defend LGBT. No surprise, since LGBT is inherently offensive and disrespectful to both groups.
Believe it or not, I appreciate your comments. And I am thankful for the various opinions this post has brought out. However, my problem lies with your tone, anonymous. You seem to assume that I and others already know these things and are deliberately perpetuating negativity. Therein lies a problem that I have seen as common. I am the first say that I don't know as much as I should about the trans community. This post was a way to garner knowledge and I am always willing to listen. But you do yourself a serious disservice by acting so accusatory. There is a fine line between educating away ignorance and scolding. You seem to be more interested in scolding than educating. Don't assume that glb's know evverything about your community. And be so eager to yell and scream that you don't realize that we are willing to listen and learn.
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