York woman tells of her transgender struggle

Tamsin Worrall, formerly Tim Worrall, 53, is living and working as a female as she begins a medical and emotional journey to change sex.

The Morrisons baker is only one of an estimated 6,000 people in the United Kingdom going through the transformation.

Her remarkable story has involved three marriages and a constant battle with her sexuality, but after more than a decade of battling urges and experimenting, Mrs Worrall has finally found peace as a woman.

As the story goes for many others born in the wrong body, Tamsin, from Harrogate says she knew something was not right as a child.

"There are some that know from an early age but I wasn't one of those," she said. "Mine crept up on me.

"I knew from an early age that I preferred the company of girls rather than boys but I come from a very conservative background and grew up in the 70s without the internet and there was no information about anything like this.

"My parents were very homophobic and transphobic and the first thing I knew about anything transgender was the film The Naked Civil Servant.

"I wasn't allowed to watch it but it sparked something in me at the time that grew and grew."

The film told the biographical true story of the effeminate writer and performer Quentin Crisp.

This struck a chord with Tamsin, but her upbringing warned her off delving further into her curiosities until she was an adult.

"I always thought it was evil or wrong to be transgender so I put it to the back of my mind," she added.

"It wasn't until I was aged about 40 that the real push came from inside me to experiment and I started to cross dress.

"When my marriage broke down about seven years ago, that's when it really came out and I couldn't suppress it any longer."

She began to dress as a woman more frequently and socialise but emotional issues flared up when she had to change back as she knew turning up to work at her former job in York as a women would be impossible.

Tamsin married Teresa, her third wife in September 2014 after the pair met online.

Teresa has provided the support Tamsin needs to achieve her significant goals and a number of friends in a similar situation.

Tamsin said: "Every time I was changing from Tamsin back to Tim it caused immediate stress.

"It caused anger and the point is I am Tamsin, not Tim, and it has just taken a hell of a long time to get to that.

"My kids are struggling to deal with it but I'm sure that will change over time.

"It has been very difficult for them.

"They are completely used to me as a different person and it was always going to be a struggle for them, so I'm leaving them to come to terms with it in their own time."

Older men threatened by my decision to be myself, but I just smile

CHANGING our gender is a process many of us will never give a moment’s thought to.

But for those who do it is a daunting time and one still subject to society’s prejudices.

Tamsin Worrall is currently going through procedures to become a woman and the 53-year-old’s decision has been met with hostility, often by strangers.

“Transpeople are the last frontier in terms of a taboo,” she said.

“I have seen confusion in people’s faces and anger in some people as well.

“I would always use the bathroom of my preferred gender but that’s when I come across most of the hostility, even though I am only in there for the same reason as everyone else.

“I’ve been told ‘You shouldn’t be in here’ but my response has always been ‘I’m a woman and it’s my bathroom as much as yours.

“If you look at the words used surrounding homophobia and transphobia there is always the word ‘choice’, especially in The United States, but why would you choose this? 

“This was something that was meant to happen.”

Transgender has arguably been brought into the global spotlight by Caitlyn Jenner, formerly Bruce Jenner, a star of Keeping Up With The Kardashians and the winner of Decathlon gold in the 1976 Olympics.

Her decision to become a woman was applauded but Mrs Worrall says people of a certain age are not always supportive.

“One of the worst experiences I’ve had was in Manchester,” she added.

“I was walking from my hotel towards Canal Street and bumped into five football fans on their way home.

“One of them was quite aggressive and started shouting at me.

“Luckily I was right outside one of the big gay nightclubs and a couple of doormen saw what was happening and stopped it from going any further.

“People in their twenties have come to speak to me about why I did this and what it’s like, but older men feel threatened by me.

“When they have been drinking there’s often some comments but I manage to avoid it by giving them a smile.

“Occasionally there’s the odd shout and you tend to see them nudging each other and making comments but I don’t necessarily hear them, I just tend to smile back.”