British paratrooper to undergo sex-change operation

Three months ago, Captain Ian Hamilton, 42, a decorated officer who also served in Bosnia and Afghanistan, took the extraordinary decision to become a woman.

He is the first officer and the first paratrooper in the history of the Armed Forces to choose to undergo a sex-change operation. The decision is the culmination of four decades of psychological turmoil, during which Ian had the inner conviction that he was born a woman.



She says she does not find men sexually attractive, describing herself as ‘a male lesbian’ – something that her former heterosexual girlfriend, Rachel, a 35-year-old freelance journalist whom she met in 2005, has understandably found exceptionally difficult to come to terms with. They now live together ‘as best friends or sisters’, but this is plainly an uneasy compromise for both of them.

Jan’s sexuality is, she admits, ‘a grey area’. ‘People might ask why I don’t stay a man, but that is to misunderstand the entire dynamic,’ she explains. ‘For a man to be with a woman, it is about domination. For a woman – for me – love is an emotional journey."

With gallery of photos.