This is a story about courageous people – Dr. Gustave Weber and Christine Jorgensen. Sometimes listening to others is not enough – sometimes you need to listen and then act.
Susquehanna University is a small liberal arts college located in Selinsgrove, PA. (Under the heading of Full Disclosure – my first wife Charlene (deceased) and I graduated from Susquehanna as did our daughter Leah.). Selinsgrove is a small town located in Snyder County, PA. and Snyder County, is a small county right in the middle of Pennsylvania. Here are some facts and figures which will help describe Snyder County as of 2022!
- Population – 39,797
- Median Age – 40
- Average Income – $65,914 / Year
- 99.5% of residents are US Citizens (National Average is 93.5%)
- 94.7% of the population is White
- In Presidential Elections, typically 70% + vote for the Republican Candidate
OK – enough statistics! Snyder County would probably be described (then and now) as a conservative county. The residents of this county probably overwhelmingly support conventional conservative values; especially when it comes to the family!
Charlene (my first wife) and I attended Susquehanna from 1972 – 1976. Being very “exciting” people, we would often go to auctions for an evening out! Another exciting activity was attending presentations (Speaker’s Series) on campus which were set up by the university with the intent of offering interesting presentations on a wide variety of topics. One of the speakers I remember clearly was Christine Jorgensen. OK – you are probably wondering – who the heck is Christine Jorgensen? Fair question – here is a write up on her from Wikipedia:
Christine Jorgensen, born George William Jorgensen Jr., was an American actress, singer, recording artist, and transgender activist. A trans woman, she was the first person to become widely known in the United States for having sex reassignment surgery. Wikipedia
Ms. Jorgensen in the 70’s and 80’s, made many presentations on college campuses to discuss her transformation from being born a male to a becoming a female. She addressed the transformation from both the physiological and psychological perspective. She was courageous! It takes courageous people to help move us along as a society and these courageous people need to be honored and respected! However, that is not the end of the story because, for her to speak on campus, there needed to be additional courageous people.
As I said earlier, Susquehanna is located in the middle of Pennsylvania. This is a rural community; a community that, more than likely, adheres to very traditional views of gender identification. This presentation was made on campus in the 70’s. The early 70’s was quite different socially then today. I suspect that Dr. Weber had to agree to have Ms. Jorgensen as a speaker and I surmise that there may have been some soul searching on his part. That said, great leaders lead and they often are called upon to make difficult decisions. In my opinion, Dr. Weber, University President and ordained Lutheran pastor, displayed courage by allowing Christine Jorgensen to take center stage at the Chapel / Auditorium in the early 70’s. Maybe today it does not seem overly courageous, but over 50 years ago – well – things were different!
I would like to end this post with a brief video on Servant Leadership and the character traits needed to lead well! Thank you Dr. Weber for being a Courageous Servant Leader and thank you Christine Jorgensen for having the courage to speak up! If you’re in a position of leadership in your organization, this discussion of Servant Leadership might be invaluable! As a leader, the last 30 seconds of this video are worth reviewing. (Video from the Banca Mediolanum National Convention, May 2023) Enjoy!
Thoughts/ Comments?
