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Carolyne O'Reilly- “I am transgenderâ€

I joined the Ö÷²¥´óÐã as a 37-year-old graduate trainee in 2000 after university, I was a rather mature student, and it was not until January 2019 that I felt I could come out as transgender; for many reasons, although I knew my gender identity was not the same as other boys as young as 6, I just did not know why, as then the World Wide Web was still many years in the future.

When I told two colleagues/friends at the Ö÷²¥´óÐã that I was transgender, there was nothing but support from them, as was the case from all my colleagues/friends at the Ö÷²¥´óÐã, and when I first said aloud, “I am transgender”, I just felt happy, as I was finally being true to myself, and with those around me. Also, my relations and friends have been equally supportive, which I am aware sadly is not always the experience other transgender people have encountered.

Over the last two years my transition has been a gradual process; facial hair removal, voice feminisation speech therapy, presenting fully as female, legally changing my name, starting HRT etc; and Ö÷²¥´óÐã’s HR department was very supportive and helpfully in enabling my gender identity change, with as one example, issuing me with my Staff ID in my female name.

I also have weekly psychotherapy session, currently online, and this has greatly helped with my successfully transition, so that I can now say that “I am proud to be a member of the LGBTQI+ Community as a Lesbian Trans Women”, see not all trans women are straight. 😊