What would Christine Jorgenson say about the fate of democracy hinging on people who think transsexualism is akin to Satinism? By Hal M. Brown , MSW

 

What, I thought when I saw the following

Progressive activists inadvertently gave Trump his best ad against Harris

wasn't about what is depicted in the AI image I used to illustrate this blog.

I can't say I was surprised when I read the article that it was about the following:

One of Donald Trump's favorite campaign ads is currently bombarding sporting events and is claiming that Kamala Harris wants to give away free gender-transition surgery for prisoners and immigration detainees.

Harris's past stance on this issue comes from an ACLU questionnaire from five years ago, which asked Harris if she'd use executive authority to ensure people who rely on the state for medical care have the opportunity to transition if deemed a necessity. Harris answered, "Yes."

What should, but doesn't, boggle my mind is that so many people are having conniption fits over the entire issue of transsexualism. It used to be what seems like an eternity ago that people on the right went batshit crazy over the notion that so called "woke" liberals wanted to promote homosexuality. 

Books about male penguins raising a baby together and other books about diversity were banned. 

Today this seems almost the quaint old days. 

Now we have right-wing hysteria over the lie that somehow kids who may be confused about their sexuality will be hustled into an operating room in a school and end up going home at the end of the day as a different gender.

I am old enough to remember Christine Jorgenson, the first American to undergo sexual reassignment surgery.

I didn't read it in The NY Daily News (below) at the age of eight but some time afterwards I learned about it. 

Trying to remember back I don't think I thought much about it. She just seemed like a curiosity to me. I had no idea that she represented so many people who identified as transgender with numbers over a million children and a million adults in the United States.

This is what Wikipedia says about her legacy:

Jorgensen's highly publicized transition helped bring to light gender identity and shaped a new culture of more inclusive ideas about the subject.^[8] As a transgender spokesperson and public figure, she influenced other transgender people to change their sex and names on their birth certificates.^{[citation needed]} Jorgensen saw herself as a founding member in what became known as the "sexual revolution."^[8] In a 1988 Los Angeles Times interview, Jorgensen stated, "I am very proud now, looking back, that I was on that street corner 36 years ago when a movement started. It was the sexual revolution that was going to start with or without me. We may not have started it, but we gave it a good swift kick in the pants."^[36]

In 2012, Jorgensen was inducted into Chicago's Legacy Walk, an outdoor public display celebrating LGBTQ history and people.^[37]

In 2014, Jorgensen was one of the inaugural honorees in the Rainbow Honor Walk, a walk of fame in San Francisco's Castro neighborhood, noting LGBTQ people who have "made significant contributions in their fields".^[38][39][40]

In June 2019, Jorgensen was one of the inaugural 50 American "pioneers, trailblazers, and heroes" included on the National LGBTQ Wall of Honor within the Stonewall National Monument (SNM) in New York City's Stonewall Inn.^[41][42] The SNM is the first U.S. national monument dedicated to LGBTQ rights and history,^[43] and the wall's unveiling was timed to take place during the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots.^[44]

Chrstine Jorgenson died at the age of 69 in 1989. As I wrote in my title, if she were alive today I wonder what she would think about the fate of democracy hinging on peoples fear of transsexualism.

Read previous blogs here.