Kim Christy (born 1950) was a female impersonator of the 1960s and 1970s, magazine editor and publisher, book author, screenwriter, adult film producer, and first genderfluid person to be inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame.

Early life

Christy was born Ken Olsen to Gertie Olsen and her husband in the

Bronx, New York The Bronx () is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state, state of New York (state), New York. It is south of Westchester County, New York, Westchester County; north and east of the ...

. Christy was raised in the Bronx, where he attended

Catholic school Catholic schools are pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered under the aegis or in association with the Catholic Church. , the Catholic Church operates the world's largest religious, non-governmental school syste ...

at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church. He began dressing in semi-drag and going out in public at age 14. At age 15, he met Billy Schumacher, whose drag name was International Chrysis, at the Tenth of Always, a bar. In 1964, when the two appeared, in drag, in ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...

'' magazine by chance, Christy's parents reacted poorly, ushering him out of the house "within a year or two." Christy and Chrysis came to share a small apartment on Mott Street, near

Broome Street Broome Street is an east–west street in Lower Manhattan. It runs nearly the full width of Manhattan island, from Hudson Street in the west to Lewis Street in the east, near the entrance to the Williamsburg Bridge. The street is interrupted in ...

and Houston, in what later became known as SoHo in New York.

Career

Christy first became a model with the help of Lenny Burtman, an editor for the fetish magazine ''Exotique''. She then became a stripper and showgirl at Club 82. She toured the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

as a female impersonator, subsequently working as a photographer for the publications ''Mode Avantgarde'', ''Hooker'', ''Eros'', and ''Exposé''. She eventually became editor of the publication ''Female Mimics'' and the aforementioned ''Exotique''. Part of ''Female Mimics'' was the She-Male calendar. Years later, he edited the original ''Exotique'' issues into book form, then published a historical survey of sex and fetish images called ''The Christy Report'' (2001).

Awards

*Best Fetish Producer (1998) *Adult Video News Hall Of Fame inductee (2004)

Filmography

Though Christy's full filmography is unknown, some relics of his work remain online.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Christy, Kim LGBT people from New York (state) People from the Bronx Male-to-female cross-dressers AVN Award winners American drag queens People from SoHo, Manhattan 1950 births Living people Genderfluid people Non-binary drag performers