"I have commited no crime. My only "sin" was to be born in the wrong body. Forced into the open, I will speak out for transsesxuals everywhere, and I will continue to fight a government that allows its doctors to perform gender reassignment surgery, but refuses to acknowledge those who benefit from that technology." Caroline Cossey

Caroline Cossey was born on August 31, 1954 and attended school in Norfolk, England. At the age of 13 she came to realized that she was unlike other boys and, by the age of 15 or 16, she understood that, although she had male external genitalia, she was female. In July 1972 she abandoned her male names and assumed the name of Caroline, a change which she confirmed by deed poll in March 1973.Since July 1972 she was known under that name for all purposes, dressed as a woman and adopted a female role. She left home and worked as a showgirl in London and Paris. In December 1974, having had previously taken hormones and had an operation for breast augmentation, she underwent SRS at the Charing Cross Hospital in London. In 1976 she was issued with a United Kingdom passport as a female.

Caroline's career took off after her SRS. From about 1979 to 1986 she was a successful fashion model, featuring regularly in newspapers, magazines and advertisements. Her big break came in 1980 when she was cast in the Bond film For Your Eyes Only.

The Sunday tabloid rag The News of the World outed Caroline soon after the release of the film in 1981. She was devastated - any opportunity for a normal, successful life as a glamour model and actress wrenched away from her in one weekend.

She was hounded by the press, persecuted by tabloid journalists and photographers asking unbelievably ignorant questions. Caroline made the decision to take it head on. She published her 1982 book, Tula: I am a Woman, which sought in straightforward terms to defuse the situation by telling the story in full, from her point of view. If anything, the press coverage intensified, but now it was largely sympathetic pieces in organs like The Sunday Times. Eventually, Tula was able to return to modeling. But the damage to her film career was beyond repair.

In 1983 Caroline and Count Glauco, an Italian national whom she had known for some fourteen months, fell in love and wished to marry each other.

By letter of 22 August 1983, the Registrar General informed them that such a marriage would be void as a matter of English law, because it would classify her as male notwithstanding her anatomical and psychological status. Her Member of Parliament advised her in a letter of 30 August 1983 that a change in the law would be required to enable her to marry. A reply on behalf of the Registrar General, dated 18 January 1984, to a further enquiry by Caroline stated that she could not be granted a birth certificate showing her sex as female, since such a certificate records details as at the date of birth.

British law regards gender reassignment as merely a cosmetic procedure, and the changes in legal status allowed are accordingly cosmetic. Caroline was allowed to be called female on her passport, and.. that was about it. To all intents and purposes, in the eye of the law, she was and is still male.

In 1983, she began legal proceedings against he British government to get the legal status of transsexuals changed. The process was to drag on for seven years and go through successively higher levels of the judiciary until it reached the European High Courts in Strasbourg in 1989.

Campaigning tirelessly for transsexuals' rights, and appearing countless times in the media her relationship with the Count suffered and they separated.

Caroline met Elias Fattal in 1985 qnd they became engaged in 1988, they were. On May 21, 1989, Caroline and Elias married, at a synagogue in St. John's Wood, London. The European High Court had ruled in her favour a shortly before, so she was now legally allowed to marry, although the British government had immediately lodged an appeal. After honeymooning in the Caibbean, Caroline returned to discover the tabloid rags were at it again. Elias' orthodox family immediately summoned him to account for his marriage to Caroline. Sadly their marriage fell apart on 11 June of the same year.

Following a petition filed by Caroline, who had been advised that this was her only means of obtaining financial relief, the marriage was, by decree nisi made by the High Court on 17 January 1990, pronounced to have been by law void by reason of the parties not being respectively male and female. That decree was made final on 13 March 1990.

Caroline again attempted to cope by writing, publishing her second book, a autobiography called "My story" in 1990. The British government's appeal against the Strasbourg ruling came to court, this time, the court ruled in the government's favour.

Today, Tula has resumed her modelling career and is married, to Canadian, David Finch. Together they are happily living in the United States and is very active in the transsexual community in England and around the world.

Comment:- A real pioneer and beautiful woman - a combination to be proud of. Thank you Caroline