S2 E7"A Useful Citizen"
Transgender & Intersex History
How long have transgender, intersex, and gender-nonconforming humans existed? This week we’ll explore some of our known genderqueer history, from ancient Sumer to 1959.
Meet legends such as Carlett Brown, Christine Jorgensen, Miss Major, Lucy Hicks Anderson, Harry Benjamin, Magnus Hirschfeld, and also episode 2's Charley Parkhurst returns from Gold Rush era San Francisco.
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Original release: July 22, 2020
Episode 7-A"Destroy A Citizen"
Frank Kameny is under the boot in this mini-episode.
Christine Jorgensen Photo Album
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Season 2 Bonus episodes
“Transvestia 100”
Virginia Prince's final 'Transvestia' issue
Subscribe on Patreon or Apple Podcasts to listen to this bonus episode from spin-off podcast Forgotten Fairy Tales—and many more from Mattachine Meeting, Randy Wicker Radio, Infamous Crimes: White Night Riot Interviews, and more!
Check out these free bonus episodes from season 2:
“Live and Let Live:
6 Decades Later”
Interview w/ Randy Wicker
Featuring Sylvia Rivera, Randy’s friend Michael, and stories about Marsha P. Johnson, the Mattachine, and radical activism.
Recorded in Hoboken, New Jersey, January 16, 2020.
“Return to Normalcy”
•
2020 Election Day bonus!
The 1920 presidential election proves yet again that history repeats itself, from fear-mongering to political scandal, and even a sitting president infected by the pandemic he downplayed. Make sure you have a plan to vote!
“Trans-sexuals and the Police”
on KPFA,
April 10, 1968
Three transgender San Franciscans discuss police problems and their work as members of C.O.G., Conversion our Goal, with Police Community Relations Officer Elliot Blackstone of the San Francisco Police Department. Herb Kutchins of the San Francisco Bail Project moderates.
“A Step Higher”
w/ Mattachino
Wendell Sayers
Historian Eric Marcus interviews Wendell Sayers, an attorney, the first Black assistant attorney general for the state of Colorado, and one of few Black members of the Mattachine Society.
He attended the 6th annual Mattachine convention in 1959, a dramatic event featured in S2 E8.
Instagram @queerserial
JULY 21, 2020
Tomorrow, we’re going back to the very beginning. Transgender, intersex, and gender-nonconforming history from ancient Sumer to 1959 in episode 7, “A Useful Citizen.” 📌
📸 The Hereford Map, depicting a nude human with double genitalia beside a Latin description roughly translated to “A people having both sexes; they are unnatural in many ways.”
JULY 22, 2020
Shake dancer Carlett Brown joins the story today to publicly announce she is seeking an operation that will change her life. 💃🏾
📸 Jet Magazine, 1953
JULY 23, 2020
Come join Miss Major at the South Side drag balls in this week’s new episode on transgender history 🎙
📸 Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, missmajorfilm.com
JULY 23, 2020
How long have intersex people existed? Always. Check out the newest episode “A Useful Citizen,” to hear about the history of intersex people (and problematic terminology)! 🌎
📸 Fresco of Hermaphroditus from Herculaneum, Italy, first century CE.
JULY 23, 2020
We met Charley Parkhurst back in episode 2. This week, the famed stagecoach driver races back into the story for a transgender history episode! 🐎
📸 1: Journalist J. Ross Browne, right, rides alongside Charley Parkhurst on a stagecoach in the foothills of California, illustration from “Washoe Revisited,” 1865, Harper’s Monthly.
📸 2: Illustration of Parkhurst, Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History
📸 3: Monument in Watsonville, California. Photo by Barry Swackhamer, 2013.
📸 4: Obituary, New York Times, January 9, 1880.
JULY 23, 2020
“It’s only petty maliciousness that is trying to cause me heartache and harm. If they would devote the same amount of energy to local problems that are hurting the community it would be much better… I have lived a good citizen for many years in this town and am going to die a good citizen, but I am going to die a woman.” ✊🏾
Legendary socialite, chef, and bordello boss Lucy Hicks Anderson takes the stand this week in episode 7, “A Useful Citizen.” 💰
📸 Lucy Hicks Anderson, c. 1950s
FEBRUARY 1, 2022
I certainly hope we're not! 😘
JET answers this question by reporting on gay celebs like Bayard Rustin, and 4 new Broadway plays with gay storylines. Then the magazine conflates gay and transgender folks by also mixing in coverage of the fabulous & fearless Carlett Brown and iconic Christine Jorgensen. The issue ultimately argues that homosexuality is a sickness, not a crime. Someone please call my primary care provider. 🤒
For more Jet history, check out @vintagejetmagazines. For more LGBT publication history, check out @jddoylearchives
voice actors
JULY 24, 2020
LOVE when pals from my hometown are on the show! Fatalany Valazquez recorded her part as socialite and bordello boss Lucy Hicks Anderson from quarantine in Evansville, Indiana. 💕
JULY 24, 2020
“I’ll become a citizen of any country where I can receive the treatment I need and be operated on.”
The talented and stunning Samuel Myles is adding another credit to the podcast this week as trans dancer Carlett Brown in episode 7 “A Useful Citizen.” Samuel also voices James Baldwin. 👠
📸 @areyoumysugardaddy, photo by @jameschwab
JULY 25, 2020
Rehearsing (and posing) with Jacqalin Keeling, an incredible talent and voice of several characters this season, including “Transvestia” editor Virginia Prince. 🖊
Christine jorgensen
AUGUST 23, 2020
“I’m very happy to be back, and I don’t have any plans at the moment. And I thank you all for coming, but I think it’s too much.” 📸
Meet Christine in episode 7, “A Useful Citizen” 🎧
JULY 26, 2020
“No, I don’t think so.” ⭐️
Christine returns to America in episode 7, “A Useful Citizen.” 🎞
JULY 25, 2020
“As you can see by the enclosed photos, taken just before the operation, I have changed a great deal. But it is the other changes that are so much more important. Remember the shy, miserable person who left America? Well, that person is no more and, as you can see, I'm in marvelous spirits.” ✨
Christine Jorgensen steps off the plane into a sea of reporters this week in episode 7, “A Useful Citizen.” ⭐️
📸 All photos and telegrams from transascity.org
AUGUST 14, 2020
“ALL THE FACTS”
JULY 31, 2020
Christine Jorgensen is selected as the Scandinavian Societies of Greater New York’s Woman of the Year 1953, as heard in episode 7!
📸 @digitaltransarc
JULY 24, 2020
A few covers of Transvestia, the newest publication to join the story! 🗞
Issue #100 (picture 4) “The Life And Times Of Virginia” is the source material for editor Virginia Prince’s story in episode 7, “A Useful Citizen,” (and a few more episodes to come).👠
📸 @glbt_history
JULY 25, 2020
“You don’t believe it?” 💎
Virginia Prince hits the papers, and then starts one for herself. Meet the newest recurring character in episode 7, “A Useful Citizen.”
JULY 26, 2020
“Dr. Hirschfeld makes public propaganda under the cover of science, which does nothing but poison our people. Real science should fight against this!” ❗️
Doctors Benjamin and Hirschfeld return in episode 7 to make incredible contributions to transgender research.
“I had a few rather frantic phone calls and letters recently. Therefore, I would be grateful to you if you would tell me how you are handling the innumerable communications that undoubtedly came to you. Don’t they all indicate hopefulness yet utter frustration?”
Harry Benjamin to Christine Jorgensen, 1953
📸 Party at the Institute for Sexual Science. Magnus Hirschfeld (second from right) and his partner Karl Giese holding his hand. Photographer unknown? Please share if you know it!
📸 Harry Benjamin & Magnus Hirschfeld