KarenSerenity.com-OFFICIAL WEBSITE-Karen Serenity Positive Thinking Successful Transsexual Women Role Models for Post-Operative, Male-To-Female Transsexual Women! Gallery Page 1.

"When you trust in yourself, you're trusting in the same wisdom that created you." ~ Dr. Wayne Dyer

Sister Mary Elizabeth(a Nun in the American Catholic Church), formerly known as Joanna M. Clark, is truly one of the unsung heroines of our time, selflessly assisting both the Transsexual and HIV/AIDS communities. One of the many grateful women (Ms. Joanna Clark) originally helped through her life transition in the early 1980's, was the author of this positive thinking website.

Only occasionally, and then only if you are luck, do you meet a person like Joanna Clark. A woman of compassion, humor, and sensitivity. A woman who genuinely cares about the people around her.

Joanna’s involvement in the transsexual community began in 1975, while visiting a Los Angeles based transsexual rap group. “During that meeting I listened to a group of dejected people discuss the numerous problems they were encountering in establishing new identities. I finally spoke up, saying that if you can’t change your records because of the law, change the law.” Most of the people present thought that changing the laws governing such records would be impossible. Joanna disagreed, however. “I believe the process will work for those willing to make it work.” Her words met with some skepticism. “They (the rap group) looked at me as if I were crazy and told me it cannot be done. Even my father, who is a retired politician, told me to forget it, there would be too much opposition.” But, Joanna went ahead anyway, determined to prove that our system of government can work.

AB-385 (W. Brown-1977), was Joanna’s first involvement in the political arena, her first “Impossible dream” to become reality. AB-385, designed to permit the Department of Health to issue new birth certificates to post-operative transsexuals, became law on January 1, 1978. Shortly thereafter, State Senator Paul Carpenter introduced emergency legislation (SB-2200) to prohibit Medi-Cal from funding sex reassignment surgery and related services. Twenty-two legislators endorsed the bill as co-sponsors but Joanna successfully augued the unconstitutionality of the bill before the legislature and sent the bill down in flames.

In 1978, at the request of Paul Walker and Zelda Suplee, Joanna authored “Legal Aspects of Transsexualism”, which she has revised yearly for distrubution through the JANUS Information Facility and Renaissance: Gender Identity Services. “Legal Aspects of Transsexualism” was expanded into a second book, “The Law and Transsexualism: A Handbook for Professionals” in 1980. Both of these publications are currently being revised and combined into a single publication for distribution later this year.

Joanna was a driving force in the formation of Renaissance: Gender Indentity Services and the Gender Dysphoria Program of Orange County, the latter being the largest and most successful gender program in the country. Further, she was the force behind the establishment of the ACLU of Southern California’s Transsexual Rights Committee, the first such committee in the history of the ACLU. This Committee has had a tremendous impact on the laws and regulations existing at both state and federal levels. The overturning of a 1973 federal regulation prohibiting the use of federal funds to provide vocational rehabilitation services to transsexuals, is but one example of the commitee’s work. The new regulation now permits federal funds to be utilized, when available, to provide for speech therapy, electrolysis, career counseling and development, and hormonal therapy.

The development and introduction of model legislation which will require all health insurance plans operating in California to provide benefits for sex reassignment surgery and related therapies, is yet another committee project, spearheaded by Joanna. Eight legislators have agreed to endorse the bill as co-sponsors and two more have pledged their support when the bill comes before them on the floor of the Assembly.

Joanna resides in San Juan Capistrano, California. She is a graduate of Saddle back college and the University of the State of New York, with degrees in human services, psychology, and sociology.

Garrett Oppenheim, CONFIDE Personal Counseling Services, Inc., recently described Joanna, when he worte, “Certainly the cause of transsexualism has never had a more effective legal champion. Ms. Clark never hesitates to take on an employer, a jail, a court, a legislature or the federal government itself when she feels there is an injustice to be reighted. And her zeal is backed up by an encyclopedic knowledge of case law that commands attention even in the halls of power.” I agree.

Organized within the Southern California chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the committee was active from 1980 to about 1983. It was founded by Joanna Clark (aka Sister Mary Elizabeth), Jude Patton, Carol Katz, Joy Shaffer, Kay Brown, Diane Saunders, and Susan McGrievy (though not TS she acted as legal counsel).

The committee had some minor success in getting the military and VA to recognize our needs. It got some major improvements in prison treatment. California has a special wing of one prison for pre-op TS. The inmates are officially called Category B inmates instead of male. The inmates call themselves “B Cats.” Post-op TS are put into the regular population that agrees with their re-assigned sex.

Another improvement was in Vocational Rehabilitation. They now recognize TS needs as a barrier to normal employment. The committee forced a researcher on the east coast to stop his unethical treatment of TS. The committee’s biggest hope had been to get a law passed that would require insurance companies to cover TS medical needs. While some legislators agreed to introduce the bill was killed in committee.

At the same time Jude Patton and Joanna Clark were working with a TS a clinic in Southern California. It became the first program to include transsexuals in the evaluation committee. This was the first time that we had had any say in our own treatment.

Jude Patton, at the Second Conference, received a “Life Time Achievement Award” from FTM International, the biggest FTM TS organization, in front of 500 Transsexual men from around the world.

Joy Shaffer became a TS medical doctor, opening the first medical clinic run by and for TS/TG people. Joanna Clark(aka Sister Mary Elizabeth), is now the head of the largest online AIDS information and education organization. Joanna Clark also kept a transsexual information organization, J2CP, alive until it could be passed on to other hands.

Joy Shaffer graduated with honors from the California Institute of Technology in 1979 with a B.S. in biology, and earned her M.D. from Stanford University in 1985. In 1988, Dr. Shaffer became a diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine.

Dr. Shaffer is a member of HBIGDA, the American College of Physicians, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine and the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association. She has published a number of scientific and medical research papers.

Before her recent retirement from the sport, Dr. Shaffer was a professional cyclist who competed on the international cycling circuit.

In 1997, Dr. Joy Shaffer wrote the informative, educational foreword for the succesful book, "Transgender Care" - Recommended Guidelines, Practical Information, and Personal Accounts.

When she finally closed her successful San Jose, California based medical office on October 28th, 2005 - Joy Diane Shaffer, M.D. had the largest transgender medical practice in the United States.

Kay Brown began gender transition as a teenager in high school. She was first diagnosed as transsexual at the Stanford Gender Dysphoria Clinic in early 1975 at the age of 17. Considered an embarrassment by her upper-middle class family, Kay left home at 18 to attend college while working full time to support herself. While still a student, Kay had SRS in 1981 by Dr. Stanley Biber in Trinidad, Colorado.

She became involved in TS activism while a college student and continued her activism after graduating with a BS in physics and psychology, trying to remain relatively stealth at work to protect her salaried career. Having been terminated from three different jobs when her transsexual status became known to management, she was reluctant to become too openly involved. Never-the-less she was a charter member of the ACLU Transsexual Rights Committee in 1980.

Kay became one of the facilitators of several Transsexual self-help groups in Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon. As a grad student in the early 1980s, Kay was a core member of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance at Stanford University, speaking to straight student groups about GLBT issues. As a member of the Sister Spirit Collective in San Jose, California, in the mid ‘80s, she volunteered as a sound engineer at Wimmin’s music concerts and conferences.

While working towards adopting a child from the state of Oregon she educated the caseworkers about transgender issues, demonstrating with her own strong parenting skills that transsexuals can be and often are excellent parents. Kay Brown has continued her activism on and off, as well as writing in Transsexual journals. Most of the original 1980-1983 ACLU Transsexual Rights Committee were prominent figures in the TS community at some point.

Kay Brown has successfully lived in Stealth for over 30 years. In 2005 she legally married a man. Kay Brown currently resides in the state of California.

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Paul Walker, Ph.D. in his office, 1952 Union Street, San Francisco, California. (Photo: Lee Grant documentary, "What Sex Am I?")

Paul Walker, Ph.D.

Paul Walker, Ph.D. was a psychologist who took over the work of the Erickson Educational Foundation after Reed Erickson died, forming Janus Information Facility. Originally at the University of Texas, Galveston, he moved to San Francisco in the late 1970's to live more freely as an openly out gay male. Dr. Paul Walker was instrumental in organizing the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association (HBIGDA) and in developing the first Standards of Care for transgendered clients.

The original letterhead from the Janus Information Facility professionals referral

list that was snail mailed to me in 1984. Dr. Paul Walker was a Godsend to me

and many other pre-internet transitioning women. - Mrs. KAREN SERENITY

Following in the footsteps of Magnus Hirschfeld, Paul Walker was active in the gay and transgendered community, often visiting clubs known to be frequented by transgendered people. He communicated often with Sister Mary Elizabeth. Dr. Walker actively encouraged transgendered and transsexual people in participating in HBIGDA.

Paul Walker died in the late 1980's of AIDS related complications. The work of the Janus Information Facility was picked up by J2CP Information Services operated by Jude Patton and Sister Mary Elizabeth. As a good friend of the TS/TG community, Dr. Walker's warmth, quick wit and steadfast championing of Transsexual-Transgender medical needs, is greatly missed.

Christine Jorgensen

(Laguna Niguel, California)

"What Sex Am I?" (1984)

Kathy (Houston, Texas)

"What Sex Am I?" (1984)

"What Sex Am I?"

Mary (Houston, Texas)

"What Sex Am I?" (1984)

Video still images from the Lee Grant's groundbreaking 1984 documentary, "What Sex Am I?" This illuminating production originally aired on HBO,

later released on VHS, featured both MTF and FTM pre/post-op persons discussing their transition experiences. "What Sex Am I?" was a powerfully

influential, motivational vehicle for many transitioning women, including myself, throughout the pre-internet 1980's. - Mrs. KAREN SERENITY

The list of selfless acts of kindness to others is as diverse as it is long for Crystal Heart Award winner Sister Mary Elizabeth. Her name is recognized throughout the world, and yet if you are not involved in the arena of the AIDS pandemic you may not have heard of her. Transsexuals in this state may not know that their ability to amend the sex moniker on their California birth certificate is directly attributed to her work. She has dedicated her life to God and is a tireless champion for her fellow man.

She was born Michael Clark in Pontiac, Michigan, in 1938 and by the age of 3 she knew that she was different from other boys. She felt more comfortable around girls because in her heart she knew that she was one. She tried to talk and act like a girl even though her feminine mannerisms prompted much taunting by the school boys. As is the case for many in our community, she suppressed her true nature and conformed to societal expectations.

In an attempt to live a normal life she joined the US Navy Reserve in 1955. Then in 1959 she got married and joined the regular Navy serving in Hawaii and Vietnam as an instructor in anti-submarine warfare, scuba diving, and sea survival. The marriage ended after 11-years in divorce.

Mary Elizabeth married again to another woman who would be pivotal in her life. Feeling guilty about her secret, she came out as a transsexual to her wife who then supported her as they talked about what they had to do. Her wife convinced Mary Elizabeth to tell her parents, and contrary to years of feared rejection, they understood. Encouraged by a loving spouse and parents she underwent a psychological evaluation which showed that she was a woman inside. When the Navy found out about this evaluation, Chief Petty Officer Michael Clark was discharged honorably. The discharge left her "angry" because she had often been commended for outstanding service.

After her Gender Identity Dysphoria diagnosis she began hormone therapy and in 1975 had sex reassignment surgery, emerging as Joanna Michelle Clark. In August of that year she was surprised by a Reserve recruiter who visited her office, urging her to enlist again. She told him that she was a transsexual, but he said he didn't think that fact would be a problem. With full disclosure to the Army she was accepted, becoming Sergeant First Class Joanna Clark in the WACs.

Eighteen months later during proceedings to promote her to warrant officer the military found out about her transsexual status and initiated discharge proceedings, claiming fraudulent enlistment. She fought against this discharge and her case was eventually settled out of court with a stipulation that the details of the settlement not be discussed. In the end, she received another honorable discharge with credit for time served in the Reserve. To this day it is still unlawful for transsexuals to enlist in the US military, in spite of its "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.

Mary Elizabeth's involvement in the transsexual community began in 1975 while visiting a Los Angeles-based transsexual rap group moderated at the time by San Diego's own "Ar"lene Lafferty. She listened to its members sharing the problems they were encountering in establishing new identities. In classic form she said, "If you can't change your records because of the law, then change the law!" This was a task many thought impossible. "I believe the process will work for those willing to make it work," she said at the time. Many people thought the idea was crazy and couldn't be done. Even her father, a retired city council member, told her to forget it. But she went ahead anyway, determined to prove that the system can work.

She leased a Savin word processor and began a letter-writing campaign aimed at changing the law. With the sponsorship of Willie Brown, and significant support of the Gray Panthers, AB 385 (W. Brown-1977) became the law that everyone said could never be. For thousands of post-operative transsexuals in California the road to a consistent identity became a reality. AB 385 which permitted the State Department of Health to issue new birth certificates to post-operative transsexuals became effective on January 1, 1978.

Shortly thereafter, State Senator Paul Carpenter along with twenty-two co-sponsors introduced emergency legislation SB-2200 to prohibit Medi-Cal from funding sex reassignment surgery and related services. Mary Elizabeth argued the unconstitutionality of the bill before the state Legislature and his bill was defeated. Today, although it is extraordinarily difficult, Medi-Cal will pay for sex reassignment surgery.

In 1978, she wrote “Legal Aspects of Transsexualism,” an important early document on the subject of transsexualism which is still referenced today. She was behind the creation of the ACLU of Southern California Transsexual Rights Committee, the first such committee in the history of the ACLU impacting existing laws and regulations on both state and federal levels.

Forming the community of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary with two other women at St Clements, Mary Elizabeth made her vows as an Episcopalian sister in 1988 "We got off to a good start until I made my vows," she explained. "And then, of course, the press descended and the church abandoned ship the next day." After the other two founding members left, she changed her affiliation to the American Catholic Church, an organization of independent Catholic churches.

In 1990 Sister Mary Elizabeth founded the AIDS Education Global Information System AEGIS (pronounced ee’ jis), now the world's largest and best database for AIDS and HIV information. Today 8,000,000 users visit AEGIS.org annually. The website offers a staggering amount of data specific about the AIDS pandemic comprised of about 1.2 million files and at no charge to the user. Daily updates on the latest news, drug information, treatments, court cases, and judges' opinions keep its users the most informed in the world. Even the American Medical Association and the Centers for Disease Control link to it from their sites.

The site's "Ask The Doc" program allows users to ask questions specific to their needs and the answer is then posted on the site. It has won numerous awards including the American Medical Association's Best of the Web. It also plays a role in the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization's Memory of the World project to preserve human knowledge about HIV and AIDS. All this is done by a staff of just four people based out of her parents' double-wide mobile home in the old California mission town of San Juan Capistrano.

Sister Mary Elizabeth is currently turning over the rains of AEGIS. An injury from jumping off of the wing of a burning P-3 anti-submarine patrol aircraft left her with three herniated discs in her back and the peripheral neuropathy causes her chronic pain. Combine that with inherited age-related macular degeneration and one is left with a sense of awe at her drive and workload. She begins her day at 5:00 a.m. and goes to sleep at midnight.

Sister's Mary's Elizabeth's legendary life story of dedicated determination and altruistic courage continues to affirmatively inspire. She remains a compassionate, sharing Angel on this Earth. May the universe always bless you, dear soul. With deepest appreciation, love and gratitude. - Mrs. KAREN SERENITY

Christine Jorgensen is undoubtedly the most famous transsexual figure in the 20th Century. Her very public life after her 1952 transition and surgery was a model for other transsexuals for decades. She was a enthusiastic lecturer on the subject of transsexuality, pleading for understanding from a public that all too often wanted to see transsexuals as freaks or perverts. Although she considered herself primarily a photographer, she toured as a stage actress and singer. Ms. Jorgensen’s poise, charm, and wit won the hearts of millions.

Her transformation was meant to be a private affair, a quiet series of operations that would change the 26 year old Bronx photographer into a woman and, in the process, exorcise the personal demons that had haunted him since childhood. But even before she left the Copenhagen hospital in February, 1953 - transformed from George Jorgensen Jr., the 98 pound ex-GI, into Christine Jorgensen, “the convertible blonde” - word had leaked out. Overnight, it became the most shocking, most celebrated surgery of the century. And even if the furor eventually waned, the curiosity lingered for years.

“I could never understand why I was receiving so much attention,” Jorgensen said in a 1986 interview. “Now, looking back, I realize it was the beginning of the Sexual Revolution, and I just happened to be one of the trigger mechanisms.”

Christine Jorgensen, with her sleek hair, smoky voice, slender body and smart clothes, exploded into the nation’s consciousness in the halcyon days of the postwar Baby Boom, in the placid I-Like-Ike, I-Love-Lucy era when issues of sexuality, much less transsexuality, were strictly taboo.

In those pre-feminist days, there was no end to the cutting appellations: The press described her variously as “mankind’s gift to the female species,” “the latest thing in blonde bombshells,” “tops in swaps” and “the turnabout gal.” In and out of the press, she became the subject of endless conversation and the butt of thousands of titillating jokes. And that was just the beginning.

While Jorgensen was still in Denmark, she had sold the rights to her life story to the Hearst Corp.’s American Weekly Magazine for $20,000. But that contract did little to dissuade other journalists, and everyone else, from besieging her.

On Feb. 12, 1953, when she stepped off the plane from Denmark at what was then Idlewild Airport, Jorgensen was greeted by more than 350 “admirers, autograph hounds and just plain curious people.” Not to mention hordes of reporters and photographers who catalogued everything from her baggage (13 pieces of luggage) to her destination (“the swank Carlyle Hotel” in Manhattan) to her first beverage in America (a Bloody Mary “containing two shots of vodka and tomato juice”).

From then on, wherever Jorgensen went, neither the press nor the attendant carnival atmosphere was far behind. Every detail was grist for the mill: Her size 9AA shoes. Her $10 contribution to a volunteer fire department in her new Long Island hometown. Her first Easter bonnet, which landed her on the front page of Newsday on Easter weekend, 1953, a much vaunted accolade traditionally reserved for Long Island’s society matrons.

The press couldn’t get enough of Jorgensen. The press was there on Feb. 26, 1953, when she took her driver’s test in Garden City, as a Newsday reporter noted on the occasion, “She, then he, had once been employed as a chauffeur. But her license had expired and so, said one wag, had the sex of the owner.”

The press was there on May 8, 1953, when Jorgensen made her debut at Hollywood’s Orpheum theater, narrating a 20 minute travel documentary she filmed in Europe: “Her paycheck is reported to be $12,500 for a week’s work.” And the press was there a week later, on the flight back to New York, when Jorgensen announced that she planned to make her home in Massapequa, on a 150 by 100 square foot parcel of land where her father, George, a carpenter, would build a six-room, $25,000 ranch style house, complete with the most up to date burglar alarm system. “Long Island,” she said, “[is] a lovely spot to settle.”

It became her home base until 1967, when her parents died and she moved to California. But if the press fueled the furor over Jorgensen, it was feeding a public that couldn’t get enough of her and a society that didn’t know what to make of her. Was she some sort of sideshow freak? Or a modern pioneer? There was no consensus. While gossip columnist Walter Winchell ridiculed her, hostess Elsa Maxwell feted her. While the Stork Club banned her, the Waldorf-Astoria welcomed her.

Jorgensen, from the beginning, never regretted what she did. “I regretted at the beginning, that the press got hold of it and made my life such an open book,” she said in a 1979 Newsday interview. “But the publicity, too, hasn’t been altogether bad. It’s enabled me to make an awful lot of money.”

Although Jorgensen preferred to be known as “the noted color photographer.” She even went to London in 1953 to photograph the coronation of Queen Elizabeth. She made her money, and her mark, from her celebrity. The offers of Hollywood stardom that poured in from film producers when she returned to the United States never panned out. Nevertheless, Jorgensen decided that if the notoriety that was following her wasn’t going to die out, she might as well cash in on it.

During the ‘50s and ‘60s, she earned a more than comfortable living on the talk show and lecture circuit and, most notably, as a stage actress and nightclub performer often earning as much as $5,000 per week. The act, which she took from the Latin Quarter in New York to the Interlude in Los Angeles to clubs in Havana, Caracas and throughout England and Australia, was both serious and fun. With a straight face, she sang “I Enjoy Being a Girl.” With tongue in cheek, she performed “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” as a parody of her life before the operation.

Christine Jorgensen, born George William Jorgensen, Jr., was not the first male-to-female transsexual to undergo a series of sexual reassignment operations, but hers was the first surgical sex change highly publicized in the United States. The publicity surrounding her surgery enabled Jorgensen and medical professionals to educate the larger public about the differences between homosexuality, transvestism, and transsexuality.

A second generation Danish-American, Jorgensen was born on May 30, 1926 to George and Florence Davis Hansen Jorgensen, and raised in the Bronx in a large extended family. In spite of a genuinely happy childhood, Jorgensen's memoir contains numerous lighthearted descriptions of her supportive family environment, her self-described "sissified" and modest ways began making her life miserable by the time she entered puberty.

What can only be called a crush on a male friend during her teenage years disturbed Jorgensen deeply. She had read about but disavowed homosexuality early on, feeling that the term did not apply to her. She later expounded upon gayness as "deeply alien" to her Lutheran religious principles.

Subscribing to the era's "deviation" theories regarding homosexuality, Jorgensen never exactly became a champion of gay rights. She remarks in her autobiography, "I had seen enough to know that homosexuality brought with it social segregation and ostracism that I couldn't add to my own deep feeling of not belonging." She reports that she even became physically ill when a man propositioned her while she was still living as a man.

A graduate of Christopher Columbus High School in the Bronx, Class of 1945, Jorgensen was drafted into the Army a few months after the end of World War II, as a 19 year old, who admitted years later that he felt like a woman trapped in a man’s body and after having been rejected twice before when she volunteered for service. Jorgensen was honorably discharged only a year and a half later after a bout of illness.

Following her departure from the Army, she made an unsuccessful attempt at a photography career in Hollywood, but returned to the East Coast to study at the Progressive School of Photography in New Haven, Connecticut. While there, Jorgensen read about an endocrinologist doing hormone experiments on animals. Her interest was piqued, and she soon discovered that the solution to her problem could be in Europe.

At the Manhattan Medical and Dental Assistants’ School, Jorgensen devoured information on the subject of sexual hormones and glandular imbalances. Then, through a friend who was a physician, the young man discovered it was possible to obtain sex change treatments and operations in Scandinavia.

In 1950, George Jorgensen Jr. secretly traveled to Copenhagen, Denmark and met with Dr. Christian Hamburger, the first medical professional to diagnose her as a transsexual rather than a homosexual.

Hamburger began treating Jorgensen with experimental hormone therapy, and the following year, he and Jorgensen's psychiatrist agreed that she was ready to move on to the next step, surgery. After two operations, word of the brand-new Christine Jorgensen leaked to the press.

Thrust into the spotlight while still recuperating in the hospital, Christine became an overnight celebrity: the New York Daily News broke the story with the headline "Ex-GI Becomes Blonde Bombshell." Much time and energy was spent ducking paparazzi and defending herself against slander, but a short time after her return to the United States, Jorgensen met with success as a public figure.

Jorgensen's name was on everyone's lips, whether they ridiculed her or sympathized with her, and intrigue about her case spread far and wide. She had long dreamed of becoming a photographer, but the relentless glare of publicity made it impossible to pursue a normal life.

After some hesitation, Jorgensen opted for a career as a stage actress and singer. Charismatic and photogenic, she cast herself in the role of glamorous and gracious, well-coifed and beautifully gowned lady.

The object of enormous curiosity, she even issued a mildly titillating record, "Christine Jorgensen Revealed," in which she answered questions about her transformation.

Jorgensen also lectured frequently about transsexuality and used her unsought celebrity as an occasion for educating others. Her book Christine Jorgensen: A Personal Autobiography was published in 1967, and its film adaptation was released in 1970 as The Christine Jorgensen Story.

Although she had dropped out of the lecture circuit for 15 years, she returned onandoff during the 1980s. She had also been planning a sequel to her autobiography and had been trying to find a U.S. distributor for a Dutch—made documentary on transsexuals, lesbians and female impersonators. After she was diagnosed as having cancer in 1987, she confessed that one of her remaining dreams was to appear on the hit TV show, “Murder She Wrote.”

Jorgensen never found even fleeting fame on TV. But she didn’t need it. To many, she had won more enduring recognition, as a pioneer, as a man—turned—woman who broke down at least one of society’s sexual barriers. For her own part, though, she saw it as nothing more than a case of self—preservation. “Does it take bravery and courage for a person with polio to want to walk?” she once said. “It’s very hard to speculate on, but if I hadn’t done what I did, I may not have survived. I may not have wanted to live. Life simply wasn’t worth much. Some people may find it easy to live a lie, I can’t. And that’s what it would have been, telling the world I’m something I’m not.”

Jorgensen's significance lies in the fact that she ultimately took control of the sensational news of her sex reassignment surgery. The story was at first presented as something titillating and scandalous, but when she presented it as her own story she seized the opportunity to educate the public about transsexualism, especially its status as a phenomenon quite distinct from transvestism and homosexuality.

In addition, the publicity Jorgensen's case attracted served an important function of reassuring other transsexuals both that they were not alone and that sex reassignment surgery might offer hope for them as well. The publicity surrounding Jorgensen's surgery also prompted numerous medical professionals to explain transsexualism and sexual reassignment surgery to an interested public.

Perhaps most importantly, Jorgensen's innate dignity and eloquence helped humanize a phenomenon that has all too often been presented as sensational or risible.

Jorgensen herself never married, but there were countless reports of liaisons: In 1952, a Texas GI told the world that he had dated her in Copenhagen “and she had the best body of any girl I ever met.” In 1959, she became engaged; her fiance later broke the engagement. “I’ve never been married,” she said in the Newsday interview, “but I have been engaged twice, and I’ve been deeply in love twice. I was never engaged to the men I was in love with, and I was never in love with the men I was engaged to.”

When the notoriety died down, Christine Jorgensen settled into a fairly private existence. She lived in Massapequa, Long Island until her parents' deaths in 1967, when she moved to Southern California, first at the Chateau Marmont, the historic apartment hotel on Hollywood’s Sunset Strip, then in a four-bedroom house in Laguna Niguel, 60 miles south of L.A., and for the last two years in San Clemente. She died of bladder and lung cancer on May 3, 1989, at the age of 62.

Christine Jorgensen is a definitive trans-pioneer without peer and the "Patron-Spirit" for many. - Mrs. KAREN SERENITY

Long before the World Wide Web there was Ms. Phoebe Smith in Atlanta, Georgia USA and her informative, self-published quarterly, "The Transsexual Voice Newsletter." She also self-published her own life story in paperback entitled, "PHOEBE" (ISBN: 09602976180) in June, 1979. Her now legendary "Transsexual Voice Newsletter" assisted thousands of men and women worldwide, throughout the 1970's and 1980's, including the author of this website. Phoebe is now retired and happily living in Atlanta, Georgia. Thank You so much and may the universe abundantly bless you, dear Phoebe Smith.

Phoebe states, "Society still has a somewhat screwed up picture of transsexuals. It will not change if we continue to lay low or live in the shadows of life. We have to take a stand."

Contrary to popular belief, transsexuals are not all alike. It is very annoying to read or hear someone say "transsexuals do this or they do that; they band together, etc," It is believed by some that many (or all) become prostitutes. We are probably more individual than the usual person in that we (most of us) went through ten shades of hell in order to be ourselves.

Society accepts conformers, not individuals. A society conforming for the purpose of wearing the blanket of NORMALCY can be strong. It can also be very cruel to one who doesn't choose to wear the blanket. "Being Normal Doesn't Mean Being Like Everyone Else; Being Normal Means Being Individual, Unlike Anyone Else."

As a transsexual who is "making it," I have an obligation to myself and to anyone else who might benefit to do whatever I can to improve the situation. Why me? Why not me? To remain silent is to accept - to accept is to agree.

I do not agree with nor do I accept society's placement of me or anyone else who is unfortunate enough to require sex-change surgery. I have no doubt that the day will come when the word transsexual will no longer be a brow-raising word. However, it will not happen without the battle. -~ Phoebe Smith

Dear Friends:

I have enjoyed seeing some familiar faces on Karen's web site. I'm glad to see how successful you are; I wish you continued success.

Karen has invited me to bring you up to date on what has been going on in my life since we were last in touch. I am strongly considering it. Is there anything you really would like to know about me. One thing I would write about is the biggest mistake I made. (It could even affect you.)

I will be the first to tell you I am no writer and I don't give advice. I will answer your questions if you have any. In 2005 I turned sixty-five; been retired four years. I remain happy and very content with my life.

Send EMAIL to Phoebe!

Phoebe Smith Phoebe Smith in Atlanta, Georgia (2005).

Take care...Phoebe Smith.

Thank you dear Phoebe for helping so many of us gals, especially during the 1970's and 1980's "Dark Ages," before the Internet. Phoebe Smith continues to serve as a most lovely, gracious, guiding mentor and role model. Thank you again from the bottom of my soul for your selfless assistance through some of the most painfully challenging early days of my life transition. I will never forget your sharing wisdom and compassionate kindness. With deepest appreciation, love and gratitude. - Mrs. KAREN SERENITY

Canary Conn provided a wonderfully refreshing and inspiring role-model to us all in the 1970's. She appeared regularly on the popular, syndicated Merv Griffin Television Show and often on Tom Snyder's popular, cutting edge NBC Tomorrow show.

Before her name was Canary Conn, his name was Danny O'Connor. The authentic autobiography "CANARY"(ISBN: 0-8402-1345-X), first published in 1974, was a best seller. It is a bitter sweet story of life as an aspiring young singer-songwriter, both as a young man and then as a woman. In her former-persona as "Danny O'Connor", he had a middle class upbringing and a happy home life, but even at the age of five he felt something was wrong. For nineteen years he fought against his feminine characteristics. He was a boy scout, sports editor, of the high school paper, he dated popular girls, went to college, married, and became a father. He competed with ten thousand youths in a nationwide talent contest sponsored by a number of top magazines and recording companies. "Danny" won the top prize, "Best Teenage Male Vocalist in America" and a recording contract with Capitol Records in the late 1960's. Judges of the contest included such personalities as Dick Clark, Quincy Jones, and Mason Williams.

Danny began to realize how truly unhappy and unfulfilled he was as a male. He separated from his wife, and made the decision to have the first stage of a sex-change operation performed in Tijuana, Mexico. It was two years later before Canary could afford the second stage procedure. The traumatic experience of being half male and half female, of having to work at many jobs in order to save money, of being alone in the world without any friends, nearly led to suicide.

After the second genital operation, Canary was a female, a new person starting out all over again and viewing the world from a new reincarnated perspective. Today Canary Conn is a writer, composer, singer and a vivacious, attractive woman.

Thank You Ms. Canary Conn. May the Universe abundantly bless you and your pathfinding inspiration. Your dynamic 1970's story of transition continues to motivate, affect and postively influence. You were truly ahead of your time dear Canary, as you courageously broke acres of new ground in societal evolutionary enlightenment by profoundly demonstrating and providing clarity for thousands of early transitioning women, including myself. - Mrs. KAREN SERENITY

Lovely Jane and her sweet, loving husband John. They presently reside in the State of Maryland, USA. Jane was born "IS" or InterSexed, having both male and female cell lines. Boys are 46XY. Girls are 46XX. Turner Syndrome girls are 45X. Jane's a XY-Turner mosaic (having 45X cells and 46XY cells), the type they used to call Mixed Gonadal Dysgenesis. Jane has successfully overcome tremendous amounts hardship, adversity, and incredible challenge in her lifetime.

Jane's a refreshingly pleasant, highly intelligent, openly sharing, honest, successful businesswoman, loving wife, inspirational and motivational role model. She has a delightful personality and nurturing nature. - Mrs. KAREN SERENITY

Christie Lee Littleton is a true renaissance woman who's always bursting with boundless energy. She is currently self-employed and successfully operates the Christie Lee & Company Hair & Nail Salon in San Antonio, Texas USA. Christie Lee is a successful businesswoman, loving wife, involved advocate of transsexual rights and regularly participates by volunteering her time in support of affirmative, national and state, transsexual legislation.

Christie Lee is a extremely savvy, intuitively intelligent, creatively talented, famously friendly woman. Her easy, warm, appealing nature has won her many true friends and supporters. May God prosperously bless you always, sweet Christie Lee! - Mrs. KAREN SERENITY

(Left - Renee on her special Wedding Day in 1984 - Right - Working and performing as a talented, successful

Renee had her G/SRS at age 22, in 1976 at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. Born in Detroit, Michigan - Renee worked as a popular, successful, talented, professional stage entertainer in Tampa, Florida - New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana in the 1970's. She lived and worked in the Cincinnati, Ohio area for many years, sharing her warm friendship and ready laughter with her many close friends. Today, Renee enjoys a rewarding sales career in the cosmetics industry and resides in the State of North Carolina.

Renee was the first post-transtioned, married transsexual woman I had the pleasure of meeting and knowing personally. I was initially introduced to her through my local supervising medical doctor, F. Jay Ach, M.D.(now retired) in Cincinnati, Ohio. Renee voluntarily taught and shared so much of her life knowledge and experiences with me. Renee was a simply wonderful role-model and inspirational mentor to me as well as many other transitioning women in the Southwestern Ohio area during the 1970's and 1980's. There are many who will never forget Renee's gentle kindness and caring. She is a remarkably talented, honest, loving, resourceful woman. Thank You dear Renee for sharing your humor, wisdom and heartfelt acceptance with so many of us gals! - Mrs. KAREN SERENITY

Lynn Conway is a Professor Emerita of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Lynn Conway is a famed pioneer of microelectronics chip design. Her innovations during the 1970's at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) have impacted chip design worldwide. Many high-tech companies and computing methods have foundations in her work.

Thousands of chip designers learned their craft from Lynn's textbook Introduction to VLSI Systems, which she co-authored with Professor Carver Mead of Caltech. Thousands more did their first VLSI design projects using the government's MOSIS prototyping system, which is based directly on Lynn's work at PARC. Much of the modern silicon chip design revolution is based on her work.

Lynn went on to win many awards and high honors, including election as a Member of the National Academy of Engineering, the highest professional recognition an engineer can receive.

Dr. Lynn Conway is an outstanding, inspirational and dynamic female role model. Lynn currently operates one of the most thoroughly complete transsexual Information websites on earth, including her incredibly informative, Transsexual Women's Successes: Links and Photos Pages.

Lynn Conway is one of the most compassionate and helpful women I've ever known. She has genuinely assisted me in more ways that I can possibly count. Lynn Conway has an engaging, understanding personality, and is never hesitant to give of her time, talent and energy to others. Lynn's honesty and integrity are impeccable. She maintains a positive, optimistic life outlook, and sustains a boundless resource of energy which she selflessly shares with all. Dr. Conway continues providing such monumental inspiration to thousands worldwide. I am happy and proud to call Lynn Conway my friend. Thank You for all your altruistic, educational community outreach efforts, dear Lynn! - Mrs. KAREN SERENITY

Michelle E. Koorsen, 43, operated her own successful "Koorsen Paint, Wallpaper, & Decorating" Business and was an talented interior-exterior designer in Fort Wayne, Indiana USA. Michelle had her SRS in 1986 with Dr. Stanley H. Biber at Mount San Rafael Hospital in Trinidad, Colorado.

Ms. Koorsen was an experienced master sky jumping instructor for many years. On Mothers Day, May 9th, 1999 - Michelle Koorsen was killed along with 5 other skyjumpers in a tragic sky diving accident. Many of Michelle's close friends continue sensing "her presence" and guiding love in their daily lives. Everyone who had the privilege of knowing this bright, happy spirit knew her genuine enthusiasm for every aspect of her life, her boundless energy, tender loving nature, and unlimited compassion towards every soul she touched in her short but most productive lifetime.

We'll always remember Michelle's warm smile, open friendship and easy laughter! Thank You Ms. Koorsen, for sharing your always welcoming, natural presence. - Mrs. KAREN SERENITY

MONTEZUMA, Ohio — Six deaths and many unanswered questions.

That's the problem confronting investigators in this farm town near Celina, Ohio — 133 miles north of Cincinnati - after a pilot and five seasoned skydivers from Ohio and Indiana were killed Sunday when their single-engine Cessna 205, N8157Z, operated by Grand Lake Skydiving, crashed into a soybean field minutes after taking off from Lakefield Airport.

All of the passengers were skydivers and members of Grand Lake Skydiving, a 10-year-old operation with about 35 members.

The 36-year-old plane, which had a new engine installed in July, had made four skydiving runs Sunday without incident.

But witnesses told investigators that on its fifth flight, the plane's engine seemed to sputter right after takeoff. It failed when the plane was 700 to 1,000 feet in the air and about 2 miles east of the airport, Ohio State Highway Patrol Trooper John Westerfield said Monday.

The plane began to spiral as it nose-dived, witnesses said.

Three of the victims were found outside the wreckage, indicating they had jumped from the aircraft, officials said. Only one parachute, however, was partially deployed.

Authorities identified the pilot as Preston E. Parrish II, 30, of Tipp City, Ohio. Other victims were identified as Michelle Koorsen, 43, and Aaron Schroeder, 30, both of Fort Wayne, Ind.; Keith A. Edwards, 40, of Marion, Ind.; Jack Haenichen, 31, of Ottawa, Ohio; and John Hoover, 43, of Huntington, Ind.

“The tragedy is overwhelming when you think that every person who got on that plane perished,” said Capt. Mike King, commander of an 11-county Ohio State Highway Patrol district.

The Mother's Day tragedy saddened many in this farming village of about 300 in Mercer County, 25 miles southwest of Lima, near the Indiana border.

“We'll say our prayers for the people and we'll move on,” said skydiver Joe Hirn of Blanchester. “I understand that they died doing something that they loved to do.”

Mr. Hirn is one of several Greater Cincinnati residents who are skydivers at Skydive Greene County, a jump center in Xenia, Ohio.

“There are notices all around that you can be killed doing this,” said Jim West, who owns Skydive Greene County. “It's something that can happen and everyone is fully aware of that.” But in time, the fear of jumping can be overcome.

“I was afraid for at least my first 10 jumps,” said Mr. Hirn, who has made almost 100 leaps in 10 months. “It all goes away. You get accustomed to anything.”

Interest in the sport has grown steadily in the past decade. The United States Parachute Association in Alexandria, Va., has 34,000 members, nearly double the number from 10 years ago, said Dany Brooks, the association's director of communications.

But Sunday's crash may have spoiled skydiving for some enthusiasts with decades of experience.

“Believe it or not, I was supposed to be on” the plane when it crashed, said the plane's owner, Bob Tangeman of Celina.

He had flown on the plane earlier in the day, but on the plane's fifth trip, Mr. Tangeman relinquished his spot to Mr. Hoover at the last minute.

Now, after logging 3,697 jumps in 37 years, Mr. Tangeman said, “I may not go u