The above headline, Sex Change Shocked The World, may not be screaming today, but it was a major headline in 1953. Another headline that greeted Miss Jorgensen when she stepped off the plane in New York in 1953: Ex-GI Becomes Blond Beauty. Christine Jorgensen was the first well-known, successful transsexual; she was an entertainer for over 30 years. This photo of her in a ballerina's outfit was from early in her career. Although she was twice engaged, she never married; the negative repercussions of a genetic male marrying a male-to-female transsexual were so great back in the 1950s and 1960s. She was even interviewed in the America Undercover documentary "What Sex Am I?", which originally aired on HBO in 1984. Even after her passing, she continues to inspire transsexual women everywhere.

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