On the occasion of this year’s Transgender Visibility Day, we would like to celebrate a story that has gone under the radar for many years – namely the story of one of Denmark’s perhaps first public trans men, who already in 1985 came forward and told about his life.

“I always think I have had a man’s mentality.”

This is what author Thomas Holck said in the documentary “Paradiset er ikke til salg (Paradise is not for sale)” from 1985.

Along with the film, a book of the same name was published by Preben Hertoft and Teit Ritzau, which presents stories from some of the trans people of the time, and here Thomas Holck talks about his journey.

“I started acting as a man when I was already 23 years old. At that time I had taken the name Eli. (…) I had worked in the postal service for a good while, and so I got to work as the man Eli.”

In the postal service, Thomas Holck only worked with men and gained status as the local Don Juan because he could “get the girls”.

“I knew I wanted to change gender as I found out it existed.”

Living as a man wasn’t a choice for Thomas Holck. It was just the way it was. In the 1960s, he underwent castration and was subsequently given the opportunity to legally change gender, and began taking gender-affirming hormones.

“I have never had any doubts.”

Thomas Holck hopes that in the future he can concentrate on his interests of painting and writing poetry. He also says that he believes he has come as close to paradise as possible.

In 1985, he published the book “Hamskifte (shedding of skin)”, which describes both literary and autobiographically his experiences of achieving gender reassignment.

Thomas Holck tells a rarely heard story about what it was like to live as a transman more than 60 years ago. Although there are other transmen at this time, Thomas Holck did something unique in coming forward publicly.

Watch the film online

You can watch the documentary (in Danish) for free online at the Danish Film Institute in Denmark on the Film website here