Patricia Davies

Patricia is a woman I've been wanting to talk about for quite some time. I recently stumbled across her on various Facebook pages, and I decided to do some research of my own. Patricia is a ninety year young War Veteran, who "lived a lie" most of her life whilst being a man. Ms Davies served in the army, as Peter, in the Far East, India, East Africa and Palestine, before marrying when she was 21. She says that she has known she was transgender since the age of three and came out to her wife, secretly, in 1987. "They didn't realise it was something that you could not cure," she said. Ms Davies added: "The atmosphere [around being transgender] was not safe. Even the medical profession didn't understand it as the treatment was to give you the 'electric shock treatment'." "You couldn't flaunt [being transgender] that would have been a disaster," she said. "I would have been classed as homosexual, which would have caused problems in the army. I would have ended up in prison." Patricia's wife bought dresses and jewellery for her to wear and agreed to keep it a secret. They were married for 63 years before her wife sadly passed away six years ago. She visited her doctor last year and has been taking female hormones. Ms Davies said: "I have been keeping quiet. I have slowly started to tell some of my neighbours. Everybody said 'don't worry, as long as you're happy'." She has joined the Women's Institute and is enjoying a "new lease of life". She said: "[The best thing about coming out] is being accepted as a woman. That has been something I've wanted all of my life." Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-39441107