Born in Pittsburgh in 1927, #CarlettBrownAngianlee was a U.S. Navy veteran who may have been the first African American to undergo gender affirmation surgery.
Joining the Navy in 1950, she admitted that this was to receive medical treatment for nasal and anal bleeding. While in the Navy, she was diagnosed with a “serious mental illness” for wanting to be female. During medical examinations, it was discovered that Angianlee had ovaries and the genitals of those assigned male at birth. In short, she was intersex.
Rather than have the ovaries removed, however, she decided instead to undergo gender affirmation surgery. She explored her options at the time and was inspired by Christine Jorgensen to look to new surgeries that were being done in Denmark and Germany. Part of her reason for transitioning (aside from feeling whole) was to marry a man she had been seeing for over two years and had known since they were children. She stated, “we’ll be married as soon as I am legally a woman.”
To receive the surgery in Denmark or Germany, she would have to become a citizen of the country and renounce her American citizenship. Problems were presented when the IRS audited her in 1953 and found that she owed more than $1,000 (just over $11,000 in today’s money) in back taxes. Being that she was making a living at that point on the margins as a dancer and by donating blood and plasma (the only ways she could make money), Angianlee struggled to pay back the government.
Not much is known about her after this and the only way we know of her story was that she was interviewed for Jet Magazine in the 1950s. As it is, no one knows if she ever made it to Europe to receive her surgery.
#LGBTQIA #PrideMonth #YouCannotEraseUs
Legends of Pride 