Trans Pilot 'No Big Deal' For British RAF

This week, news emerged that a helicopter pilot in the British Royal Air Force (RAF) will be undergoing the process of gender reassignment and transitioning from male to female.

Why is this newsworthy? Well, it's likely that the story wouldn't have been quite as appealing for the tabloids had a member of the royal family not been in close proximity - Prince William, second-in-line to the British throne, is stationed at the same base as the transwoman in question. However, the progressive attitude this story demonstrates and the resulting press reaction is something quite interesting too.

Flight Lieutenant Holdom, 29, who was born male and was formally known as Ian Holdom, is based at RAF Valley in Anglesey, North Wales, and has chosen to identify as Ayla Holdom from now on. She is married, and will remain with her wife Wren while continuing in her job. According to reports, she will be one of three women in 22 Squadron C Flight. Earlier this year, Ayla was diagnosed with gender dysmorphia and just this past week told friends and family that she was hoping to undergo and complete her transition within a year.

From The Telegraph:

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: "This is no big deal for the RAF, or the services in general for that matter, whether you are talking about transgender or homosexuality.

'All we have to deal with is can that person do the job, can Ian [her former name] fly as a co-pilot in the search and rescue? All the armed forces are a reflection of society, our society is diverse and we're diverse, we welcome that.'

It is reported that Ayla also took to Facebook to hint at her transition, informing her friends that her old Facebook profile would soon be deleted so that she could "move on." She also encouraged friends to contact her if they did not understand her reasons for transitioning. However, this news was perhaps not completely out of the blue:

"It wasn't a total shock for those of us who have known Ian for a while, as he was not happy being a man.

"This sort of thing isn't that unusual in this day and age, even in the military."

Pink News also says that Ayla has kept a sense of humor about the situation and while she recognizes that some people might find the news "weird," she fully expected to get ribbed by friends for a while, saying that she would be "disappointed if people didn't take the mickey a bit."

Anyone who has read reports of this story will notice comments largely center on the same basic premise, saying that this is not the first case of people in the British Army transitioning, and indeed it won't be the last. Many also ask the simple question that, in this day and age, "who cares?" That has to be a good thing.

While the paper that originally reported the story, The Sun - which is not known for political correctness or an abundance of tact - took on the subject with a degree of sensitivity that has earned it some praise, there was a smidgen of sensationalism buzzing around the narrative:

"Prince William must have been a bit taken aback when he found out Ian, or rather Ayla, was becoming a woman. They will have met each other in the mess and will know each other through social events,"

The Sun quoted a military source as saying, although it actually remains unknown whether the two have ever met.

It is true to say that most news agencies ignored the story, and those that did cover it gave it little room and used headlines that were fairly benign, with the Telegraph article quoted above running the story under the banner of "RAF Pilot at Prince William's base to Undergo Sex Change." However, a handful did stray. One outlet ran the story under the title of "Prince William's RAF base 'mate' will soon be a 'ladette' after sex change op!"

For those unfamiliar with the term "ladette" it is a word coined to describe young women who are perceived as behaving in a manner that is stereotypically associated with loutish young men, for example engaging in binge drinking, swearing, fighting in public and the like. It is a casually sexist term of disapproval and put in this context it is doubly insensitive. Thankfully, this kind of framing of the story has been limited.

As to why Ayla Holdom chose to go public, I would guess that, given that she is stationed at the same base as a member of the British royal family, both she and her superiors perceived that it was only a matter of time before the story came out and thus reasoned that it was better to take control of the situation from the outset.

The group Press for Change has a very interesting article on just this subject that may be of interest. In the article the writer says that, often when trans people in high-profiled positions choose to go public with such stories, it is certainly not for fame or fortune, but rather to preempt any press intrusion, hoping to dampen any sensationalist articles that might have otherwise been written by a tabloid aching for a juicy story to spin.

With this considered then, perhaps the handful of insensitive headlines (that, even then, have so far not been overtly hostile) are remarkable in themselves for their lack of bite.

Of course, only when a trans person's gender identity is no longer newsworthy will true progress be palpable. Until such a time, we count the small steps, and the news of the RAF's acceptance of Holdom on the basis of her skills, rather than focusing on her trans status, feels like progress, as does the rather indifferent reaction of readers and the press at large.

In a similarly positive story, last month Lance Corporal James Wharton, 23, who became the first gay soldier to be featured on the front cover of the army publication Soldier, was also the first in his regiment, the Household Cavalry, to be joined in a civil partnership ceremony. His spouse Thom McCaffrey, 21, works as an air steward.

The regiment, famed for escorting the Queen during state occasions, has counted both Prince William and Prince Harry among its officers, and it marked the civil partnership warmly. The couple's reception party was hosted at the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment's Knightsbridge barracks and was fully supported by the troop. Speaking at the time, troop leader Captain Michael Fry said:

"Colour, creed, age and who you sleep with all become irrelevant when you're both being shot at. All that matters to me is that he is an effective, well-trained and fit operational soldier. I hope people will focus less on L/Cpl Wharton's sexuality, and more on the fact that he is a good soldier."

The change in British law that allowed gay and lesbian service personnel to serve openly occurred in January, 2000, as a result of a two-year legal fight which involved three gay men and one lesbian. They had been discharged from the Royal Navy and RAF following the discovery of their sexuality and took legal action. As a result, the European Court of Human Rights then found the ban unlawful.

However, the UK military has not shown itself to be as trans-inclusive in the more recent past. In 2008, the British Army settled out of court after a transwoman claimed she had suffered sexual discrimination and was a victim of unfair dismissal after transitioning, saying that she had been"humiliated" and "demeaned" by the Army's actions.

The woman in question, Jan Hamilton, was a former captain who had served in Bosnia and Iraq as Ian Hamilton, and had been wounded by a roadside bomb. Upon returning to the UK, Ms. Hamilton decided to start the process of gender reassignment, but found that her superiors ignoredher repeated calls to discuss her gender identity.

She was then summoned to an Army medical in April 2007, wherein she was instructed to wear her former uniform. She refused to wear the male attire, and as a result the army withdrew a job offer that had previously been extended to her.

However, since that incident, it seems that the British Military as a whole has worked towards fostering a more inclusive attitude, and while every military faces its own set of unique challenges, the fact that the RAF appears to have seen its way to creating a trans-inclusive environment, and that the UK Army has managed to repeal its gay ban without detriment, firmly indicates that LGBT inclusion in the military is not only possible, but that it can also be fully workable while maintaining military readiness and unit cohesion.