Flashes lit up the runway as the tall blonde actress gracefully disembarked from the plane at New York International Airport.
Cameramen jostled for position and climbed over one another to get the perfect shot. Newsreel cameras rolled and journalists shouted questions.
“For a moment I thought I had wandered into Dante’s Inferno,” Christine Jorgensen later recalled, “and later I learned it was the largest media gathering in the history of an airport.”
It was a simple letter Kristin sent to her parents, Florence and George, that caused a media frenzy: “Nature made a mistake, but I have made it right, and I am now your daughter,” explained the 26-year-old. Kristin had become the first person in the United States to have sex reassignment surgery, and now the whole world knew.
Born on May 30, 1926, Christine grew up in the Belmont section of the Bronx in a happy home environment, free of broken homes, absentee fathers and childhood trauma – all favourite theories of psychoanalysts at the time who wanted to understand “why” people were unsure of their gender or sexuality.
Christine was drafted into the United States Army in 1945. Her work consisted mainly of clerical tasks until she was sent to Camp Polk, Louisiana, for rigorous training, but after contracting severe bronchitis and pneumonia, she was medically discharged on December 5, 1946. Over the next few years, Christine tried unsuccessfully to forge a career in Hollywood, worked “menial” jobs in grocery stores, and tried her hand at photo shoots.
All the while, I felt trapped in the wrong body.
Christine later wrote, “I have been accused many times of living under a mask as a woman, and if I haven’t made it clear already, I’ll say it again: in my opinion, to wear a real mask was to continue as I was before. To me, that was to live a lie.”
“I didn’t want to continue in this situation if there was even the slightest chance of getting more help anywhere in the world.”
It was in 1948 that Christine came across an article about hormone experiments and after further research she discovered that a doctor in Europe could potentially help her transform into a woman.
By April 1950, she had saved enough money to buy a one-way ticket to a new life.
In Denmark, renowned scientist Dr Christian Hamburger agreed to help Christine, then 26, transition through sex, providing her with hormone injections, plastic surgery and psychiatric support free of charge.
In a lengthy letter to her parents in 1952, Christine wrote: “I have changed a lot, but I want you to know that I am a very happy person. I want you to like me very much, and I want you not to be hurt that I didn’t tell you sooner.”
But Christine needn’t have worried: her concerned parents simply replied, “We received your letter and the picture. We love you more than ever, Mom and Dad.”
Christine and her family never wanted the public to know about her gender transition after she returned to the U.S. But according to Christine’s autobiography, her mother was upset when “threatening” journalists showed up on her doorstep after hearing about her daughter’s trip to Denmark. Florence published Christine’s letter in good faith to bolster the story’s credibility.
On December 1, 1952, a headline in the New York Daily News screamed: “GIs have become women. Dear Mom and Dad, a son wrote. I am now your daughter.”
The response was immediate, with excerpts from Christine’s letter and photographs circulating in other newspapers. The Korean War was raging, King George VI had died, and Queen Elizabeth II had ascended to the throne, but journalists and readers wanted to know more about Christine.
In her autobiography, she recalled, “Whenever my name was mentioned, the phrase ‘former G.I.’ was almost always added. There seemed to be something alluring about the fact that I had been in the military, and I now think that this contradiction was a major factor in the propaganda that followed.”
“It seemed like I was going to have to get used to being stared at and examined. I decided that people would be interested and curious, and that the only logical thing I could do was to accept it if I was going to get by in the world.”
Amid the publicity, letters and telegrams came with opportunities. Christine received offers for radio appearances, club appearances and theater performances. Soon, her Hollywood dreams were coming true.
On February 15, 1953, Christine was greeted by a throng of reporters and photographers at New York International Airport after returning from a film premiere in Denmark. The Danish royal family was on the same flight, but the media attention was focused on Christine.
Questions like, “Where did you get your fur coat?”, “Are you planning on getting married?”, and “Do you think Europeans understand sex issues better than Americans?” She became an instant celebrity, known not only for her candor and sophisticated wit, but also for her activism in taking control of her own narrative and advocating for transgender people.
Throughout her career, she has starred in films and nightclubs across Europe and the United States. The actress lectured at universities about her experiences. In 1952, she was awarded Woman of the Year by the Scandinavian Society of New York, and continued to act, sing, and perform around the world.
1967 autobiography Christine Jorgensen: Autobiography The book sold nearly 450,000 copies, and three years later it was made into a drama film. The Christine Jorgensen Story John Hansen stars in the film.
In the book’s introduction, the actress explains that she hopes it will reach “boys and girls who grow up knowing they can’t fit into the patterns of life that are expected of them; men and women who struggle to adjust to gender roles that don’t suit them; and brave people, like me, who have to take drastic measures to improve what they can’t stand.”
Christine added: “The answer doesn’t lie in sleeping pills, fake suicides or prison sentences, but rather in life and the freedom to live it.”
By the early 1980s, the celebrity had retired from public life and settled in Laguna Beach, California. Despite having several high-profile relationships, she never married. In 1959, she was set to marry typist Howard J. Knox, but this was not possible as Christina’s birth certificate listed her as male.
Christine died on May 3, 1989, at the age of 62, from bladder and lung cancer.
Her story has helped a generation of young transgender people accept themselves and led to further grants and research in the medical community, but the actress has always maintained an air of humility.
A few years before her death, Christine returned to Denmark to meet Dr. Hamburger, who had arranged her sex change, and she told a journalist there: “We didn’t start the sexual revolution, but I think we helped it along!”
“Nature made a mistake, but I corrected it.”
Click below to enlarge the first page of a letter written in 1952 by Christine Jorgensen of Denmark to her parents living in the Bronx, New York.
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