We meet British Army's first transgender officer
8:51 - 22 Jan 2015
22/01/15
itv1
itvHannah Winterbourne joins Lorraine to share her amazing story of being the first transgender office in the British army."I came to a realisation of who I was in 2011. From then it was about finding the courage."
– Hannah Winterbourne
After making the decision to make the change in 2011, she said: "The army have been fantastic from start to finish and my friends and family have been hugely supportive.
"Nothing has changed with my job.
"I'm really privileged. I'm acutely aware of how lucky I am to be in a society now which is accepting. I'm a product of those that have gone before me who have had a harder time than me. My huge thanks goes out to them who set the conditions for me to be where I am now."
She added: "Ideally in the future it will be a situation that I wouldn't be sat here. It would just be the norm. It's important to get the story out so people can understand you can get on with your life now matter who you are or what you're doing.
"I just want to move on with my life and carry on my employment with the army and have a good life regardless of my trans-status which to me isn't that important any more."
Video - Watch Now
http://www.itv.com/lorraine/hot-topics/ ... er-officer
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Comment
Relaxed, Natural and very beautiful woman Hanna in her fatigues every bit the female officer. Not trying to impress, not looking like she is going to a drag bar. Just fresh, smart, articulate and warm. What a great role-model for transgender soldiers!
The only negative is the FIRST... this IS ALWAYS FRAUGHT with problems, as Jan Hamilton see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Hamilton and is quoted as the First there too and Ironically Lorraine interviewed her twice
Jan was a serving transgender officer too I have her documentary and she was a Captain in the Paratroop Regiment who went on to the police service I believe! People then say yeah but she left to transition. But does that means she became a woman when she left or was she a woman in the army too? If that is the case then the journalists and activists reporting her as a 'FIRST' only see you as a woman or man if you transition publicly and you are not one before that point!You see there were documented transgender men in Nelson's Navy and transgender women shot as spies in the first world war (as the cross-dressing was seen to be suspect). So this whole firsts thing needs to stop Hannah is a serving transgender woman that's it and as she said the sooner this is a non-story the better. As it just undermines what is a very important issue with bad feeling from those that went before. So please stop trying to reinvent the wheel in the press (namely the tabloids) - it is too late!
