# David Palmer of Jethro Tull has had sex-change operation **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 26, 2004, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-palmer-of-jethro-tull-has-had-sex-change-operation/226149 "2004-01-26T14:33:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2004, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-palmer-of-jethro-tull-has-had-sex-change-operation/226149/1 "2004-01-26T14:33:40Z")
I found this interesting. [http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2444536](http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2444536) > [@](#): > > A former member of the Seventies rock band Jethro Tull has had a sex-change operation to become a woman, it was revealed today. > > David Palmer, the band’s 66-year-old ex-keyboard player, has swapped his trademark beard for long blonde hair and make-up and is now called Dee. She is recording her first solo album. > > The former soldier in the Royal Horse Guards said that she had “felt like this since the age of three” but that it was only since the death of wife Margaret nine years ago that the feelings were pursued. Is she the first rock musician to have gender reassignment? ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2004, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-palmer-of-jethro-tull-has-had-sex-change-operation/226149/2 "2004-01-26T14:38:45Z")
Not rock, but [Wendy Carlos](http://www.wendycarlos.com/) used to be a man… ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2004, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-palmer-of-jethro-tull-has-had-sex-change-operation/226149/3 "2004-01-26T14:47:40Z")
> [@An Arky](#): > > Not rock, but [Wendy Carlos](http://www.wendycarlos.com/) used to be a man… Careful, Arky! I hear she sues people who suggest that she has had her gender reassigned. Odd, considering her Playboy interview was mostly about it. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![International\_Playboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/48db29/32.png) [@International\_Playboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/International_Playboy)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2004, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-palmer-of-jethro-tull-has-had-sex-change-operation/226149/4 "2004-01-26T15:00:27Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Careful, Arky! I hear she sues people who suggest that she has had her gender reassigned. Odd, considering her Playboy interview was mostly about it. :rolleyes: I remember when Walter became Wendy and reading the Playboy interview. Kind of brings a new meaning to “Switched on Bach.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2004, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-palmer-of-jethro-tull-has-had-sex-change-operation/226149/5 "2004-01-26T16:21:01Z")
I guess that if there ever was a JT concert in the future that they’d have to play _Cross-Dressing Mary…_ ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2004, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-palmer-of-jethro-tull-has-had-sex-change-operation/226149/6 "2004-01-26T16:53:55Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > I hear she sues people who suggest that she has had her gender reassigned. Cite please? ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2004, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-palmer-of-jethro-tull-has-had-sex-change-operation/226149/7 "2004-01-26T17:19:28Z")
One of Europe’s most popular rock stars, [Dana International](http://www.danainternational.co.il/), is transgendered. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2004, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-palmer-of-jethro-tull-has-had-sex-change-operation/226149/8 "2004-01-27T00:17:30Z")
The original “sex change gal” Christine Jorgenson had a cabaret act for a number of years. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2004, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-palmer-of-jethro-tull-has-had-sex-change-operation/226149/9 "2004-01-27T00:24:46Z")
It’s pretty widely known that Jaime Lee Curtis was one of conjoined biracial hermaphrodic twins. The identity of the other has been kept secret, but best evidence suggests either Carrie Fisher or Richard Simmons. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2004, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-palmer-of-jethro-tull-has-had-sex-change-operation/226149/10 "2004-01-27T00:59:26Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > The original “sex change gal” Christine Jorgenson had a cabaret act for a number of years. Christine wasn’t “the first” by a long shot–sex-reassignment surgery had been going on since at least the early 1920s. She was just the first transsexual with a press agent. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2004, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-palmer-of-jethro-tull-has-had-sex-change-operation/226149/11 "2004-01-27T01:56:21Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > It’s pretty widely known that Jaime Lee Curtis was one of conjoined biracial hermaphrodic twins. The identity of the other has been kept secret, but best evidence suggests either Carrie Fisher or Richard Simmons. Dude, thats just an urban legend. The truth is, she was raised by alligators in the New York City sewers. When she was a teenager, she got a big chunk of money from Bill Gates by forwarding emails (yes, they have internet access in the sewers of NYC), bought a JATO-powered Chevrolet Impala and rocketed to Hollywood. ---
**Author:** ![karomon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@karomon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/karomon)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2004, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-palmer-of-jethro-tull-has-had-sex-change-operation/226149/12 "2004-01-27T02:05:14Z")
The Korean singer/“actress”/pinup girl [Harisu](http://www.cliphoto.com/social/harisu.htm) is transgendered. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2004, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-palmer-of-jethro-tull-has-had-sex-change-operation/226149/13 "2004-01-27T07:27:32Z")
Does this mean they’re going to be Jethra Tull now? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![KellyM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/57b2e6/32.png) [@KellyM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KellyM)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2004, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-palmer-of-jethro-tull-has-had-sex-change-operation/226149/14 "2004-01-27T08:18:41Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > It’s pretty widely known that Jaime Lee Curtis was one of conjoined biracial hermaphrodic twins. The identity of the other has been kept secret, but best evidence suggests either Carrie Fisher or Richard Simmons. It is widely rumored that Jamie Lee Curtis is intersexual, but that rumor has never been confirmed. Ms. Curtis refuses to address the issue, as is her right. I’ve never heard it suggested that she was a twin. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2004, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-palmer-of-jethro-tull-has-had-sex-change-operation/226149/15 "2004-01-27T09:07:53Z")
A surprising number of comic book artists (well, three that I know of, and one of them chickened out at the last minute, but it’s a small field) are/were transgendered. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Death](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecccb3/32.png) [@Evil\_Death](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Death)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2004, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-palmer-of-jethro-tull-has-had-sex-change-operation/226149/16 "2004-01-27T11:11:35Z")
> [@KellyM](#): > > It is widely rumored that Jamie Lee Curtis is intersexual, but that rumor has never been confirmed. Though it has been fairly thoroughly dismissed, I think. > [@](#): > > Ms. Curtis refuses to address the issue, as is her right. If you’re going to be formal, she’s Lady Haden-Guest. “Ms” she most definitely is not. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2004, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-palmer-of-jethro-tull-has-had-sex-change-operation/226149/17 "2004-01-27T12:43:57Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Careful, Arky! I hear she sues people who suggest that she has had her gender reassigned. Odd, considering her Playboy interview was mostly about it. :rolleyes: Yeah, there’s a page on her site called “On Prurient Matters” or something, which is a long-winded and confusing rant about how people won’t leave her alone about it, etc. I can understand how someone who has felt she was a woman her whole life would just want to be a woman and leave it at that. But as a public figure, this stuff’s going to come up, unfortunately. ---
**Author:** ![Sunglasses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5fc32e/32.png) [@Sunglasses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunglasses)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2004, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-palmer-of-jethro-tull-has-had-sex-change-operation/226149/18 "2004-01-27T12:56:09Z")
I believe that Bill Amesbury (who had a hit with _Virginia (Touch me like you do)_ in 1974) had gender reassignment surgery and now goes by the name Barbara Amesbury. ---
**Author:** ![the\_O-man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9f8e36/32.png) [@the\_O-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_O-man)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2004, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-palmer-of-jethro-tull-has-had-sex-change-operation/226149/19 "2004-01-27T14:48:09Z")
> [@Snooooopy](#): > > Does this mean they’re going to be Jethra Tull now? 🙂 No! **Jethrene Tull** ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2004, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-palmer-of-jethro-tull-has-had-sex-change-operation/226149/20 "2004-01-27T15:39:39Z")
> [@the O-man](#): > > No! **Jethrene Tull** Damn you! Beat me to it! Sittin’ on a park bench… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-palmer-of-jethro-tull-has-had-sex-change-operation/226149.md?page=2)