Quotes from Christine Jorgensen

It is interesting to note that the response to me in Swedish press held no ridicule or personal animosity. The Swedes indicated their affection and acceptance of me on the basis that I was a human being first and, second, a scientific marvel instead of an oddity. It was probably the first time that the press had not taken it upon itself to decide what I was--a circumstance that had prevailed from the time the first story broke.

The lost soul whose heart reaches out to grasp love While his arms were forced through precedent to hang lifeless Whose very soul cries out to a love that cannot be returned Where can a substitute, a partial relief be found? How can a futureless life go on? Yet, it does. Year after year, the body lives, while the soul dies.

I have never been such a real person as I am today.

Through the doctor's eyes, I see myself as a chemical reaction, and as you know, chemical formulas are definite and lead to definite conclusions.

I'd had many offers from various enterprises, everything from hat designers to burlesque houses, from beauty salons to carnival midways. I was perfectly aware that they didn't want to hire me for my abilities, but for the notoriety surrounding my name.

Contentment and happiness are contagious, I think.

The Post articles consistently referred to me as "he," "Jorgensen," or "the Bronx man," as though I were some anthropological missing link.

Mine was a single, highly individual case and the doctors had proceeded along the lines they felt would be most beneficial to me alone, with my full knowledge, approval, and consent. Beyond that, I had no advice for anyone...help for others could only come from the acceptance and enlightenment of the public and the medical profession.

How strange it seemed to me that the whole answer might lie in the particular combination of atoms contained in those tiny, aspirin-like tablets. As recently as a few years before, science had split some of those atoms and unleashed a giant force. There in my hand lay another series of atoms, which in their way might set off another explosion--one I hoped would not be a destructive force but would help to make me a whole person.

I was never an absolute male and I shall never be an absolute female. But whatever the value of percentages in the scale of sex determinants, there are no absolutes; even the most masculine or feminine person approximates only eighty percent of the possible total. There is no one hundred percent Adam or Eve.

My greatest desire was to step over the boundaries of notoriety, into the world of legitimate theater, and I hoped to make the transition on the strength of a satisfying and acceptable performance; not by a constant reference to my past personal life.

When the First Lady is a he--and the President is me It's a switch--it's a twist--it's a change Still these things would shock most people But I don't really know why, For the world is full of changes--who knows this more than I!

Never once, in all those acres of newsprint, had I been asked about my faiths and beliefs, both of which had played important roles in my life. What I slept in, apparently, was considered more important than what I believed in.

Without faith I'd have stopped existing long ago. But I don't believe God would want me to go on being unhappy, unable to present the best part of myself to the world, when there is the possibility of developing into a whole person.

I realize, of course, that selling newspapers is a business, and that gathering news and presenting it truthfully must be a difficult and competitive task. However, in a story of a highly controversial nature, some newsmen are prone to alter facts and present them in an exciting, provocative way to a panting public, without always following the unvarnished truth.

God gives us many chances in this world and I don't believe they're confined to a choice between good and evil, or what people think is right and wrong. Anyway, I believe my choice now is right, because if a change is possible, I will be given a chance to lead a life of greater meaning and dignity. And I think God would probably approve of that!

It seems to me now a shocking commentary on the press of our time that I pushed the hydrogen-bomb tests on Eniwetok right off the front pages. A tragic war was still raging in Korea, George VI had died and Britain had a new queen, sophisticated guided missiles were going off in New Mexico, Jonas Salk was working on a vaccine for infantile paralysis...Christine Jorgensen was on page one.

I didn't want to continue in my present state if there was even the remotest possibility of finding further help, no matter where in the world I would have to go to find it.

The answer to the problem must not lie in sleeping pills and suicides that look like accidents, or in jail sentences, but rather in life and the freedom to live it. Yes, in considering the possibilities of removing and transplanting, perhaps science is reaching beyond the acceptance of current medical practice, but does that justify refusing to do it? Where would the world be without the Pasteurs and Ehrlichs to reach out and do the impossible?

I remember [Dr. Kinsey] personally as a shy, quiet man and a gracious host, but in his work he was a supreme egoist, and left me with the impression that he believed his books on sexual behavior were the definitive ones, and there was not much left to be said on the subject. Perhaps his professional conceit was warranted, for above all, he was a dedicated research scientist, and I was happy to have made even a small contribution to his studies.

It was a common practice for news writers to make public proclamations as to what I was, or was not. It seemed to me that the selection of sex determination should lie with the individual in an effort to live freely, so long as it was to no one else's disadvantage.

Through the years, I've encountered about every attitude and response known to the human emotional spectrum. Some people thought me a courageous pioneer, others regarded me as disgusting and immoral; some of the clergy considered that I had committed an ungodly act. Why these reactions to me should be so explosively pro and con, only God or the Devil knows, and I suspect they are both puzzled.

Many times, I've been accused of living a masquerade as a female, but if I have not already made it clear I will state again that, in my view, the real masquerade would have been to continue in my former state. That, to me, would have been living the lie.

I think I'm basically one and the same person I was in the earlier part of my life--perhaps calmer, more accepting and certainly happier.