Joanne Rushton

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Joanne Wingate (born 1961) became the first publicly known transgender service member to transition and continue serving in the post‑Cold War British Army. She started transitioning in August 1996 and completed gender reassignment in January 2000. A few months after surgery, the Army ended her service in May 2003, despite its own guidelines meant to protect soldiers who transition. Wingate served in the Falklands War, Germany, the Gulf War, Kosovo, Bosnia, and Northern Ireland with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, and was part of the army boxing team and the Army and British Ski Bike Team. She was the first person in the service to openly change gender and to take the Ministry of Defence to an employment tribunal for discrimination in 2003. Because the Gender Recognition Act was not yet in force (2004), she was legally considered male under old precedents and lost the case. In 2003, Army newspapers ran stories about her case, including “Transsexual Loses Case” and a piece about Petra Henderson, “Sex-Swap Soldier Speaks out.”