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From Combats to Skirts

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  • As many of you know i served in the British Army, this is how a TS/TV is treated by the Upper crust of the Army :-

    An Officer who's no longer a gentleman


    The first army officer to have a sex change was mocked by a whole platoon of soldiers who turned up at a parade dressed as women, an employment tribunal heard yesterday. Her commanding officer dismissed the alleged organised humiliation as simply "horseplay" and playful rivalry between platoons. But Joanne Wingate from Frome, Somerset, claims this was one of the incidents of sexual discrimination against her by the Ministry of Defence because of her transsexuality. Miss Wingate, a former Warrant Officer class two, was leading the parade in Germany just months before the operation in 1998.

    Yesterday her former boss Lieutenent-Colonel Richard Thorpe told the tribunal in Bristol: "I thought it was horseplay. Friendly banter." He explained there was always friendly rivalry between Miss Wingate's regiment and the "slightly less able" Recovery Platoon, which recovered military vehicles. He said that the applicant had said to him: "Don't worry sir, it's sorted," and so he took no further action. Lt-Col Thorpe maintained that he had no idea Miss Wingate - then Sergeant Major Joe Rushton - was a transsexual and thought the soldier was receiving psychiatric help for anger management. The hearing was told Joanne joined 6 Battalion with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers in 1981.

    The 42-year-old had served in Northern Ireland and Bosnia and been married four times before he announced his intention to change from Joe to Joanne. News of the incident spread quickly and there were red faces in the army when the sex change operation hit national newspaper front pages. After the operation, Miss Wingate believed she was sidelined into a job without career prospects and was insulted by army bosses who continued to refer to her as man. She claims that she was passed over for promotion, while the army made her job "as difficult as it could" for her. In her witness statement, Miss Wingate said: "Prior to any of this happening my career profile was slowly but surely increasing.

    "I thought if I continued under similar circumstances I would have had fair chance of promotion. The army found it very difficult to deal with the issue of transsexuality."

    The blond former soldier, who wore black trousers and a pinstriped white shirt at the tribunal, said she was "made to feel different and outcast" by army bosses. She has also been troubled by depression which she blames on her treatment in the army. Miss Wingate finally left in March this year with Long Service and Good Conduct medals. But her former commanding officer yesterday said that her disciplinary record was not as exemplary as she maintained. Lt-Col Thorpe said he issued her with two warnings in the course of 18 months. He was particularly concerned over an incident that took place in Bosnia, when the applicant used offensive language against two female junior chefs caught holding an illicit party. He said: "I couldn't believe I had a warrant officer of 15 years' experience behaving in this manner to a civilian, and I had to discipline him for this."

    Miss Wingate who is claiming sexual discrimination, also claims she was sexually harassed and suffered derogatory remarks and unfair treatment. She also said the MoD failed to offer her suitable psychiatric support while she was dealing with her transsexuality and the operation. Her barrister, Rajeev Thacker during cross-examination accused the army of squeezing her out because "it is easier to move her out of a prejudicial and discriminatory environment than it is to deal with that environment." But another witness, Colonel Peter McCarthy, Manning and Career Management Division Commanding Officer, said that the army had taken big strides to overcome traditional prejudices. However he conceded that with 100,000 members there will still be those who "misunderstand" certain situations.

    The Equal Opportunities Commission, which is supporting Miss Wingate's case, says transsexuals have legal protection against discrimination at work. A statement said her case "raises important issues about the way in which transsexual people are treated within their employment. The case continues An error in yesterday's paper said the MoD had said discrimination was acceptable in the armed forces. It should have read discrimination was not acceptable. We are happy to put the record straight

    LOVE JJ xx
    JULIE Warrior Maiden of Valhalle
      August 3, 2004 1:54 PM BST
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  • Ok i might have put this in the wrong place, but for those of you who have read my thread"enemy within" this is the proof that the army are doughnuts...and thats putting it mildly.....love JJ xx
    JULIE Warrior Maiden of Valhalle
      August 4, 2004 4:19 PM BST
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  • Tiina,
    i have not got exact figure's but it is estimated at about 12% a year. This is very frightening and it covers all 3 services as well. i will investigste and let you know........love JJ xx
    JULIE Warrior Maiden of Valhalle
      August 4, 2004 6:01 PM BST
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  • To army I was "given" by my parents. They hoped, that there me will cure from the TS... Mine the daddy the large Soviet military leader, has made so, that me have accepted in military school despite of my protests. With falling communism at me the opportunity to leave army has appeared, that I and have made. But the love to aircraft has remained, it is higher than my TS
    In a photo - 1991, the Soviet air forces.
      August 21, 2004 7:49 PM BST
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