Joanne Rushton

Sergeant Major Joanne Wingate (born Joe Rushton in 1960) is the first publicly known transsexual-soldier to transition and serve in the post cold-war British Army. She started her transition in August 1998 and eventually had her "Sex-change" at the end of 2002. Only a few months after her SRS (Sex reassignment surgery male-to-female) the Army terminated her service in May 2003, effectively firing her. This was in total disregard to their own "new guidelines/instruction AGAI 76" on the issue of "transition within the Army" issued especially to protect people like her. As a man, she served in Kosovo, Bosnia and Northern Ireland with the REME Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers and was also part of the army boxing team.citation |url=http://www.pfc.org.uk/node/847 |title=Sex-change soldiers can stay in Army |periodical=The Daily Telegraph |date=1999-08-02 |accessdate=2007-08-21]
She was the first person in the service to openly change gender and also take the UK's Ministry of Defence (MOD) to an employment tribunal for Discrimination in 2003. Given that the Gender Recognition Act was first signed into law in 2004, she was legally (under old legal British precedents) considered male, and subsequently lost her case [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/somerset/3268727.stm BBC report on her loosing discrimination case] . This despite promises before her transition by the UK Government that it was OK to change sex while in the forces.

In 2003 an article about her with headline "Transsexual Loses Case" [http://home.arcor.de/royal-signals/page1/files/page1-1017-full.jpgBottom Half of larger scan of page] and a report about Petra Henderson Royal Signals with Title "Sex-Swap Soldier Speaks out" [http://home.arcor.de/royal-signals/page1/files/page1-1016-full.jpgTop Half of larger scan of page] appeared on page three of the British Army's daily newspaper ("Sixth Sense" 20th November 2003 [http://home.arcor.de/royal-signals/page1/files/page1-1015-full.html Complete overview of the Page] ).

"TRANSSEXUAL LOSES CASE (an brief extract of the "Sixth Sense" report)"
"A FORMER Army officer who had surgery to become a woman has lost a ground breaking sex discrimination case against the MoD. Joanne Wingate, 42, the first person in the service to change gender, said the MoD discriminated against her because of her transsexuality. Neil Sheldon, acting for the MoD, told the employment tribunal in Bristol that the Army had dealt with Ms Wingate's transsexuality successfully, pointing out that she was not dismissed but had left with long service and good conduct medals. Ms Wingate also said she was sexually harassed and suffered derogatory remarks and unfair treatment, and that some colleagues continued to refer to her as a male, which she found "very offensive and upsetting." Lt Col Richard Thorpe told the tribunal about a military parade in which about 15 members of a platoon dressed up as women. He told the tribunal: "I thought it was horseplay — friendly banter."

On the same Page, in an Interview with Petra Henderson, Petra said (an Extract) "“that she is hoping the introduction of a new law at the end of the year will give transsexual people like Joanne Wingate more rights to equal treatment. “The Gender Recognition Bill has taken over five years of very difficult and careful consideration to be put together. This will allow other transsexual people to have the same rights as me (Petra having been given a UK Government legal recognition of her Gender in 1999) – they will be able to have a new birth certificate showing their new gender and can remarry in a civil ceremony,” said Petra. "Had Joanne had that piece of paper I think the result would have been very different. Her gender would have been legally recognised." and “This is definitely a step backwards for transsexual people. But I hope she does appeal against the decision made in order that the Army accepts that this kind of discrimination will not be tolerated.”"

Other (earlier) trans-soldiers in the British Army

The British Army has a history of Trans-People serving over the centuries [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/trail/wars_conflict/home_front/women_at_war_fact_file.shtml BBC article on several women serving as men] and even as late as November 1945 in post war Hamburg allowed a serving Sergeant (a full-time soldier and not a conscript) to travel to Denmark for a male-to-female sex-change after extensive medical evaluation by the Medical Officer and a psychologist [Eye-witness report (ZDF German TV report 2005) on the early post-war experiences] . Several women served as men during WW1, particularly in the first years (1914/1915) before the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (1917–1918) was created, including Dorothy Lawrence [http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWlawrenceD.htm Brief information about the female Sapper] who served in the front lines, at the Somme as Private Denis Smith of the 1st Bn, Leicestershire Regiment and then as a Sapper with the Royal Engineers, until discovered and sent back to England barely escaping being executed as a spy. Sadly she (or he if she was indeed a Transman) was raped by a clergyman in 1919 which also sadly no-one would believe, so in 1925 due to her claims to have been raped, and also her claims she had served as a soldier, and maybe possibly dared show a desire to be a man, "she" was put in a mental institute and remained there until her death in 1964. No-One believed her "war stories" either, nor the "legends" of the woman discovered in the Front line trenches by others she/he had served with until documents were found in the RE archives many years after her/his death...Fact|date=September 2008
Another much more famous case was that of The Army Chief Surgeon Dr. James Barry (surgeon) [http://www.lothene.demon.co.uk/others/barry.html "A Strange Story" (excerpt from "The Manchester Guardian" of 21st August 1865):] who served for 52 years (until his death) as a male officer [http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=4283 Dr. James Barry, a Biography] , and was discovered post mortem to be "encumbered with a female body". The Army chose to keep his secret and respect his true felt identity, but The Lancet (London), July - December 1895 edition outed him some 30 years after his death with an article using the unflattering and given his service as a man and living since at least his 13th year as a man, deliberately misleading (Today we would say "sensationalist" or News of the World "Tabloid" style) headline "A female member of the army medical staff". A headline that shocked Victorian England.

Many True Transsexual-servicemen and servicewomen served in the UK forces in stealth, either repressing their transition until after they left [http://www.pfc.org.uk/node/922 Lynsay Watson ex Royal Signals] [http://www.lynnesdiaries.freeserve.co.uk/ Vulcan Bombers and a Transwoman] the forces, or already transitioned simply not informing the military of all their details before joining. Others told the Military doctors and psychologist, during their service or even acceptance medical, but either on advice of the doctors or their own doing did not chose to tell anyone else until after they had left. In the mid 1980s the Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force undertook many SIB and SIS (MI6) investigations to try to discover Trans-people in the ranks, probably wrongly believing that a transsexual person "must be gay". Many who Honestly answered the questions asked, including asexual virgins and heterosexual married men, were discharged by "Administrative Discharge" under Queen's Regulations, Section QR's 9.41. [http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199293/cmhansrd/1992-06-17/Debate-14.html Hansard 1992 Ground for instant dismissal (administrative discharge) in the Forces.] which continued up to 1999 when the Defence Secretary Lord Robertson, suspended all pending disciplinary hearings against "suspected" gays [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/458842.stm BBC "Military: Delight and despair at gay ban ruling" ]

References

Links

* [http://www.proud2serve.net UK's Proud to Serve Forum]
* [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TransHistory/ discussion group for T*-History]
* [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Eurotransgender/ discussion group for T*-rights]
* [http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/w-r-a-c/ discussion group for former ATS and WRAC]