Hannah Winterbourne — who was born a boy but said she realized at the age of 23 she was a woman trapped in a man’s body — just came out as Britain’s highest-ranking transgender soldier, with a captain’s command of 100.
The soldier, now 27, slowly began living openly as a woman and taking hormone therapy and undergoing sex-change surgery while wrapping a six-week tour at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan, the New York Daily News reported.
She came out and admitted her transgender status to her parents and troops at the Royal Electrical Mechanical Engineers unit — and says she’s surprised by all the support, the newspaper said.
“I think people soon realized it just didn’t make a difference to my job,” she said in a documentary for the All About Trans project, the New York Daily News reported. “At the end of the day, I could still do all the things I could do before I transitioned, and that’s what the army really respects, because we’re all about capability and output.”
Her story hit British media — and shortly after, she took to Twitter to express her thanks for the outreach.
“Would like to just take a mo and thank everyone across the internet who has left such kind comments on my story today! #LuckyGirl #ThankYou,” the tweet read.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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