Fifty Years After: Christine Jorgensen's Legacy - New York, NY

December 2 marks the 50th anniversary of Christine Jorgensen's sudden celebrity as a transsexual -- news of her surgery made headlines around the world and resulted in her being the most-written-about news figure in 1953. As she notes in her autobiography, news of her "sex-change" pushed the hydrogen bomb tests on Eniwetok off the front pages.

This day-long symposium, featuring scholars and activists, will consider Jorgensen's legacy, as over the past half-century, her celebrity has remained a touchstone of transgender history, altering the discourse that had existed prior to that point and shaping popular consciousness ever since.

SPECIAL PERFORMANCE
B4T (before testosterone)
A multi-media theater piece exploring race, sexuality and gender expression of Black butch lesbians and transmen. Written and performed by Imani Henry.

7:30 pm, suggested admission: $10
Graduate Center, Baisley Powell Elebash Recital Hall, first floor

Participants include: Paisley Currah, Brooklyn College; C. Jacob Hale, California State University, Northridge; Joanne Meyerowitz, Indiana University; Hugh McGowan, GMHC; Mariette Pathy-Allen, photographer; Ben Singer, Rutgers University; Dean Spade, The Sylvia Rivera Legal Resource Program, Urban Justice Center; Chris Straayer, New York University; Susan Stryker, GLBT Historical Society; Dinh Tu Tran, Tom Steele Fellow, "Homeless Queer Youth of Color Project," Peter Cicchino Youth Project; Salvador Vidal-Ortiz, CUNY Graduate Center.

Co-sponsors include: The Audre Lorde Project: Center for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Two Spirit, and Transgender People of Color Communities; In Memory of Alexander John Goodrum from the Funding Exchange Family; GLBT Historical Society ; The Human Rights Campaign; Lesbian and Gay Law Association of Greater New York; The National Latino/a Lesbian, Gay Bisexual and Transgender Organization (LLEG); Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays; the Sexuality Research Fellowship Program of the Social Sciences Research Council; Transgender Law and Policy Institute; and Transgender Cinema Arts of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center

Friday, November 22, 2002, 1:00 p.m. - 9 p.m
Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies
Skylight Conference Room, 9th Floor
City University of New York
365 Fifth Avenue (between 34th and 35th street)
New York, NY

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