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Janine Wegman

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Janine Wegman on her keyboard in front of her home on the Bergweg in Rotterdam

Janine Wegman (25 September 1925 – 22 February 2007) was a Dutch Hammond-organist and artist based in Rotterdam. She was one of the first Dutch people to be openly transsexual.

Career

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Wegman started her career as the magician ‘Rinus’, and later had success with her first wife with the act 'Marinio en Janine',[1][2] and appeared on national television in 1949.[3][4] She worked at the volunteer fire service.[5] Later in life she became a Hammond-organist. She regularly performed in Rotterdam, and in the early 1970s she played on Wednesday and Saturday afternoon on the Schouwburgplein.[6]

Personal life

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Wegman was born in Rotterdam. She has been married twice and had two children.[7] She chose the name Janine after the first name of her first wife.[5] In 1978 she put a personal ad in the newspaper with the text 'Which man or woman will take a woman with a small mistake on a holiday for free?' Jan van Vriesland responded and took her on her first foreign trip to Spain.[8] The couple married during this trip in Barcelona, but this marriage was not officially recognized in the Netherlands.[9] In 1992 she appeared in the television program Paradijsvogels [nl].

Transgender-emancipation

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Wegman was born as an androgynous person,[5] and felt like a woman since 1960.[10] Janine was known as the first transsexual person in Rotterdam to present in public as a woman in the late 1950s. Together with trans pioneers such as Aaïcha Bergamin,[11] she was one of the first people in the Netherlands to openly manifest herself as transsexual.[12] She was being treated by Dr Otto de Vaal[13] and received hormone tablets.[14]

Since 1959 there was a General Police Regulation in Rotterdam in which Article 56, “Walking in disguise or masked”, was used to prevent transvestism. Section 1 read: "It is forbidden to show oneself on the road in the clothing of the sex to which one does not belong."[15] Wegman was regularly arrested by the police for walking down the street in women's clothing. She had a run-in with the police after hitting a police officer in the face in the Benthuizerstraat, after which six police officers beat her up until she bled.[16][5]

She had to try for several years before she could become a member of the COC, a Dutch organisation for LGBT people.[7]

In 1978 Wegman managed to change the name in her passport to Johanna Maria Wegman through a lawsuit. In an attempt to get the V for Female in her passport, she showed her breasts several times at City Hall. After the first action in 1978, a civil registry officer scratched the V for Female in her passport, but this was not a legally valid change. After her second action in 1995, the registry office stated that there were no valid documents of gender reassignment,[17] which was a prerequisite for gender reassignment on ID cards between 1985 and 2014. In 1996, after being castrated, and again appearing bare-chested at the counter and threatening with suicide, Janine Wegman was finally allowed to register as a woman at the registry office.[18]

References

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  1. ^ "Gevonden in Delpher - Het vrije volk: democratisch-socialistisch dagblad". Het Vrije Volk : Democratisch-Socialistisch Dagblad. 10 July 1948. Retrieved 2021-06-06.
  2. ^ "Gevonden in Delpher - Het vrije volk: democratisch-socialistisch dagblad". Het Vrije Volk : Democratisch-Socialistisch Dagblad. 15 November 1946. Retrieved 2021-06-06.
  3. ^ "Gevonden in Delpher - Het vrije volk: democratisch-socialistisch dagblad". Het Vrije Volk : Democratisch-Socialistisch Dagblad. 21 April 1951. Retrieved 2021-06-06.
  4. ^ "Rotterdam films 3". oud.rotterdam010.nl. Archived from the original on 2021-06-06. Retrieved 2021-06-06.
  5. ^ a b c d "Gevonden in Delpher - Het vrije volk: democratisch-socialistisch dagblad". Het Vrije Volk : Democratisch-Socialistisch Dagblad. 25 September 1990. Retrieved 2021-06-06.
  6. ^ "Gevonden in Delpher - Het vrije volk: democratisch-socialistisch dagblad". Het Vrije Volk : Democratisch-Socialistisch Dagblad. 10 June 1972. Retrieved 2021-06-06.
  7. ^ a b "Gevonden in Delpher - Het vrije volk: democratisch-socialistisch dagblad". Het Vrije Volk : Democratisch-Socialistisch Dagblad. 29 August 1973. Retrieved 2021-06-06.
  8. ^ "Gevonden in Delpher - Het vrije volk: democratisch-socialistisch dagblad". Het Vrije Volk : Democratisch-Socialistisch Dagblad. 6 October 1978. Retrieved 2021-06-06.
  9. ^ "Gevonden in Delpher - De Telegraaf". De Telegraaf. 22 February 1992. Retrieved 2021-06-06.
  10. ^ DU MOULIN, LOUIS (23 February 2007). "Janine Wegman - 36 jaar strijd voor een vrouwelijk paspoort". Retrieved 2021-06-07.
  11. ^ "Aaïcha Bergamin". With Pride. Retrieved 2021-06-06.
  12. ^ "De seksuele revolutie en prostitutie in Rotterdam | Sekswerkerfgoed". Retrieved 2021-06-06.
  13. ^ "Genderbenders". www.bertsgeschiedenissite.nl. Retrieved 2021-06-06.
  14. ^ "Gevonden in Delpher - Het vrije volk: democratisch-socialistisch dagblad". Het Vrije Volk : Democratisch-Socialistisch Dagblad. 5 January 1978. Retrieved 2021-06-06.
  15. ^ Dig It Up (2019-05-23). "1959: Rotterdamse APV verbiedt 'uitlokken tot homosexuele handelingen'". DIG IT UP. Retrieved 2021-06-06.
  16. ^ "Gevonden in Delpher - Het vrije volk: democratisch-socialistisch dagblad". Het Vrije Volk : Democratisch-Socialistisch Dagblad. 25 September 1990. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
  17. ^ Algemeen Dagblad (18 August 1995). "Janine wil opnieuw een V in zijn paspoort". Retrieved 2021-06-07.
  18. ^ "Rotterdamsch Nieuwsblad / Schiedamsche Courant / Rotterdams Dagblad / Waterweg / Algemeen Dagblad | 2 augustus 1996 | pagina 2". Gemeentearchief Schiedam - Krantenkijker. 2 August 1996. Retrieved 2021-06-07.