Christine Jorgensen May 30, β May 3, was an American actress, singer, recording artist, and transgender activist. A trans woman , she was the first person to become widely known in the United States for having sex reassignment surgery.
In , Jorgensen was drafted into the U. Army during World War II. After she served as a military clerical worker, Jorgensen attended several schools, worked, and pursued a photography career. Upon her return to the United States in the early s, her transition was the subject of a New York Daily News front-page story.
She became an instant celebrity, known for her directness and polished wit, and used the platform to advocate for transgender people. Jorgensen was the second child of carpenter and contractor George William Jorgensen and his wife, Florence Davis Hansen. She was named George William, after her father, when she was born. Army at Returning to New York after military service, and increasingly concerned over, as one obituary later called it, a "lack of male physical development", [14] Jorgensen heard about sex reassignment surgery.
She began taking estrogen in the form of ethinylestradiol. She started researching the surgery with the help of Joseph Angelo, the husband of a classmate at the Manhattan Medical and Dental Assistant School.
During a stopover in Copenhagen to visit relatives, she met Christian Hamburger , a Danish endocrinologist and specialist in rehabilitative hormonal therapy. Jorgensen stayed in Denmark and underwent hormone replacement therapy under Hamburger's direction. She chose the name Christine in honor of Hamburger. Doctor Hamburger explained the gender hormone procedure, "The first sign was an increase in size of the mammary glands and then hair began to grow where the patient had a bald patch on the temple.
