George William Jorgensen, Jr. was the first widely known person to have sex reassignment surgery. On a trip to Denmark, the former Army man let a guy by the almost implausibly perfect name of Dr. Hamburger begin hormone-replacement therapy on him, then later surgery. Jorgensen arrived back in New York in 1953 as a celebrity. Now called Christine Jorgensen, she became a nightclub entertainer and recorded several songs, but the song most people remember her for was one she didn’t even sing on.
The song “Is She Is or Is She Ain’t” was a cheery calypso tune about Jorgensen and her spank new vagina. It was sung by a man we today know as Louis Farrakhan.
