This is a weird one so hear me out.
Okay I’m the only female sergeant on my squadron and about 10 days ago a male cadet came up to me and asked to speak to me in private. He then asked me can transgender females join the navy. He then proceeded to tell me how he wanted a sex change and would he still be able to join the forces. He asked me not to spread it around the squadron or to the CO so I’m asking on here can they?? He wants to know but is trying to keep it between me and his family.
If your user name is your real name, then I’m sure the cadet in question will be chuffed that you’ve posted this on the internet…
This is a question for the Careers Office I think. Get the Cadet or yourself to ring in and ask the question. I’m sure they would be more than happy to answer anonymously under the circumstances.
Sorry I can’t be of anymore help. Never come across this before.
I’m unsure about joining, but I have heard of an instance where the RAF have paid for part of the change (a colleague knew the bloke/lass in question), so I would think the answer may actually be yes. However the practicalities of it might take some thinking through, where would they shower etc? Male or female toilets? Would they be bunked with males or females? This may just be me being narrow minded though.
Have a look here:
It looks like it answers all your questions (the answer to most being that it’s not a problem).
Sgt E, you’ll be doing a good job in supporting your fellow Cadet, but be cautious about being drawn into giving much opinion and advice beyond ATC or services matters. That of course is the official line: if this person is also a friend, or in desperate need of advice, both of you should always keep in mind that the Corps is just one place where information and guidance can be got.
You’ll know yourself that people in early life must think about who and what they are, and where they should be headed. But that direction itself can change…
But back to your original point: being as clear about this as possible, I have had the experience of working with people both in the education sector, and in uniform, that have changed gender whilst in post. I’m sure it’s never been easy for them, and maybe I’ve just seen the best experiences of it, but they certainly were fully accepted and happy in their roles.
It’s also worth thinking of another factor from the perspective of the Cadet that might become transgender. As you probably know, although all of the UK Armed Services (and civil emergency services) require women to be every bit as operationally-capable as men. However, in the classic words “for reasons of combat effectiveness” women are not permitted to serve in front-line combat roles such as the RAF Regiment, Royal Marines, Parachute Regiment.
If the Cadet wanted to serve in the Royal Navy, a question that would be worth getting an answer to is whether or not females are allowed to serve with Naval Parties (ie as part of an armed mobile force in a high-speed surface craft), or boarding/landing parties. We can maybe get confirmation about this here on ACC from the member named FlagO, at a level of detail that’s better/more realistic than the jazzy TV adverts that the Royal Navy was showing up until recently.
My angle is that if service in the Royal Navy is important to this individual, perhaps it’s worth them noting that their range of opportunities to serve in certain front-line roles may be reduced if they’re female (note: I’m not saying that it will be, nor that it should be- but it certainly might be). Of course, that might fit perfectly with the personal life and career choices that person is seeking to follow.
wilf_san
On the point raised by Wilf. The RN includes women in pretty much all roles, now including mine clearance diving and submariners. There are a few odd ones that are currently not open but should be in the future, some logistic submariner roles.
As for transgender on entry. I know of a handful of transgender in the forces, I have not know of someone joining (personally or head of it). The forces are equal opportunity employers so anyone can apply, so long as they pass the selection criteria.
I would direct your friend to Proud 2 Serve which is the forces LGBT network for support and information. There is a variety of information on the site as well as forums.
The general rule of thumb when dealing with Transgender individuals is that they are treated as being the gender with which they identify. So post operation they are legally female for example and would thus bunk/shower with the females. The only difficulty I could see from a for we point of view is that you need to live as the gender you associate with for a period of time (2 years if I recall) before you can have your operation which of necessity is a drawn out process. Again in general during the process an employer is obliged to treat you as the gender in which you are living, however I’m not sure how the forces would cope with this (although their should be a SOP on it.)
If said individual were to have their operation and then join, or were to join and then have their operation once they were in and settled I can’t see any real obstacles. The only way I can see it getting complicated were if they were to join the forces mid or pre op, as at that stage they would be physically a male living as a female. (Not forgetting that this can also happen in the other direction).