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Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Queer History - 1970: Butch Lesbian or Trans Man

I like to hunt around the web for pieces of queer history. This is what I found today.

In a 1970 Dear Abby, a parent can't accept her lesbian daughter. But, it's unclear if the daughter is in a relationship with a butch woman or a transgender man.
"Recently our 21 year old daughter came to us and told us that she was in love with another girl with whom she had been living for the past year. She said her roommate felt herself to be a "man imprisoned in a woman's body," and was contemplating a "Christine Jorgensen" operation in reverse." -Baffled and Brokenhearted Mother, The Milwaukee Sentinel - Dec 19, 1970
Interestingly, the mother refers to the famous openly transsexual woman, Christine Jorgensen, who underwent sex reassignment surgery in 1952. It's again unclear if the mother doesn't know what the proper term is, or can't bring herself to say it. But it's obvious the only ones confused are the parents.

Christine Jorgenson in the Aug, 1970 issue of "GAY":



For more on the article above, see this page on Queer Music Heritage.
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