Ayla Holdom | |
|---|---|
| Allegiance |  United Kingdom |
| Service |  Royal Air Force |
| Rank | Flight lieutenant (former) |
Ayla Holdom is a British helicopter pilot and former flight lieutenant in the Royal Air Force. Holdom served in the Royal Air Force for 13 years, including service in the RAF Search and Rescue Force alongside Prince William. In 2010, she became the first pilot in the armed forces to openly identify as transgender.
Holdom served for 13 years in the Royal Air Force and is a former flight lieutenant; she was part of the RAF Search and Rescue Force, serving at RM Chivenor alongside William, Prince of Wales. [1] [2] With her coming out as a transgender woman in 2010, she became the first pilot in the British Armed Forces to openly identify as transgender. [3] Her employer was supportive of her gender identity. [4]
As of 2018, Holdom was employed as a helicopter pilot in the National Police Air Service. [2]
Early into her gender transition, in 2010, Holdom was outed as a transgender woman by the Sun tabloid due to her association with Prince William. [2] [1] Paris Lees, in Attitude magazine, writes that the Sun had used "a particularly crude metaphor" in reference to Holdom's gender identity but that Holdom used the publicity afforded by the experience to elevate "trans issues and visibility." [1] She was notified of the story's appearance on the Sun's front page only one day in advance, [4] and later recalled that she "felt attacked and vilified by people I'd never met and betrayed by whoever went to the press." [2] The following year she and her wife were invited to Prince William's wedding. [5]
In 2015, Holdom was featured on the Pride Power List [6] and profiled in Attitude magazine. [7] A 2018 production by the Sydney Theatre Company, Still Point Turning, is a dramatisation of the lives of Holdom and Royal Australian Air Force group captain Cate McGregor, who is also a transgender woman. [4]
Holdom is lesbian, and was in a relationship with her wife, Wren, for eight years before they married in a civil ceremony around 2008. At the time of marriage, Holdom had been presenting as a woman outside of the workplace. [5] [8]
Roberta Elizabeth Marshall Cowell was a British racing driver and Second World War fighter pilot. She was the first known British trans woman to undergo gender-affirming surgery in 1951.
The Royal Air Force Mountain Rescue Service (RAFMRS) provides the United Kingdom military's only all-weather search and rescue asset for the United Kingdom. Royal Air Force (RAF) mountain rescue teams (MRTs) were first organised during World War II to rescue aircrew from the large number of military aircraft crashes then occurring due to navigational errors in conjunction with bad weather and resulting poor visibility when flying in the vicinity of high ground. The practice at the time was to organise ad-hoc rescue parties from station medical sections and other ground personnel.
Flight Lieutenant Caroline Paige was the first transgender officer to serve openly in the UK Armed Forces. Before her transition in 1999, she served in the Cold War intercepting Soviet bomber planes, and was involved in the Gulf War and Bosnia Conflict. She switched to Battlefield Helicopters in 1992 and flew several operational tours post-transition, including, Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan, before her retirement from the military in November 2014.
The Royal Air Force Search and Rescue Force was a unit of the Royal Air Force (RAF) which provided around-the-clock aeronautical search and rescue cover in the United Kingdom, Cyprus, and the Falkland Islands, from 1986 until 2016.
The Defence Survive, Evade, Resist, Extract (SERE) Training Organisation (DSTO), is a military training organisation based at RAF St Mawgan, Cornwall, and RAF Cranwell, Lincolnshire, in the United Kingdom. It is tri-service and trains personnel in survival techniques, evading capture and resistance from interrogation.
Sexual orientation and gender identity in the Australian military are not considered disqualifying matters in the 21st century, with the Australian Defence Force (ADF) allowing LGBT people to serve openly and access the same entitlements as other personnel. The ban on gay and lesbian personnel was lifted by the Keating government in 1992, with a 2000 study finding no discernible negative impacts on troop morale. In 2009, the First Rudd government introduced equal entitlements to military retirement pensions and superannuation for the domestic partners of LGBTI personnel. Since 2010, transgender personnel may serve openly and may undergo gender transition with ADF support while continuing their military service. LGBTI personnel are also supported by the charity DEFGLIS, the Defence Force Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender and Intersex Information Service.
This article addresses the history of transgender people in the United States from prior to Western contact until the present. There are a few historical accounts of transgender people that have been present in the land now known as the United States at least since the early 1600s. Before Western contact, some Native American tribes had third gender people whose social roles varied from tribe to tribe. People dressing and living differently from the gender roles typical of their sex assigned at birth and contributing to various aspects of American history and culture have been documented from the 17th century to the present day. In the 20th and 21st centuries, advances in gender-affirming surgery as well as transgender activism have influenced transgender life and the popular perception of transgender people in the United States.
Paris Lees is an English author, journalist, presenter and campaigner. She topped The Independent on Sunday's 2013 Pink List, came second in the 2014 Rainbow List, and was awarded the Positive Role Model Award for LGBT in the 2012 National Diversity Awards. Lees is the first trans columnist at Vogue and was the first trans woman to present shows on BBC Radio 1 and Channel 4. Her first book, What It Feels Like For a Girl, was published by Penguin in 2021.
Catherine McGregor is a prominent Australian writer, commentator and former Australian Defence Force officer.
Group Captain Sara Bridget Mackmin is a British Royal Air Force officer. Appointed commander of the RAF Search and Rescue Force in 2013, she was the first female aircrew officer in British military history to be promoted to group captain rank and the first to command a flying unit above squadron level.
Sarah Elizabeth McBride is an American activist and politician who is the U.S. representative for Delaware's at-large congressional district. A member of the Democratic Party, she served in the Delaware Senate from January 2021 to January 2025, representing the state's 1st senate district. Prior, she was the national press secretary of the Human Rights Campaign from 2016 to 2021. McBride is the nation's highest ranking openly transgender elected official and the first openly transgender member of the United States Congress.
Not all armed forces have policies explicitly permitting LGBT personnel. Generally speaking, Western European militaries show a greater tendency toward inclusion of LGBT individuals. As of 2022, more than 30 countries allow transgender military personnel to serve openly, such as Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine and the United States. Cuba and Thailand reportedly allowed transgender service in a limited capacity.
All About Trans is a project that aims to improve how the media understands and portrays transgender people. Its aim is to "promote trans voices in the media" and engage media professionals and other sector professionals with trans topics in creative ways.
Danica A. Roem is an American journalist and politician who has served in the Virginia Senate since 2024. A Democrat, she represents the 30th district covering part of Prince William County including the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park. She previously served in the Virginia House of Delegates representing the 13th district from 2018-2024.
The following is a timeline of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) history in the 21st century.
The National LGBTQ Wall of Honor is a memorial wall in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, dedicated to LGBTQ "pioneers, trailblazers, and heroes". Located inside the Stonewall Inn, the wall is part of the Stonewall National Monument, the first U.S. National Monument dedicated to the country's LGBTQ rights and history. The first fifty inductees were unveiled June 27, 2019, as a part of events marking the 50th anniversary of Stonewall. Five honorees are added annually.
The following is a timeline of transgender history. Transgender history dates back to the first recorded instances of transgender individuals in ancient civilizations. However, the word transgenderism did not exist until 1965 when coined by psychiatrist John F. Oliven of Columbia University in his 1965 reference work Sexual Hygiene and Pathology; the timeline includes events and personalities that may be viewed as transgender in the broadest sense, including third gender and other gender-variant behavior, including ancient or modern precursors from the historical record.
This article addresses the history of transgender people across the British Isles in the United Kingdom, the British colonies and the Kingdom of England until the present day. Transgender people were historically recognised in the UK by varying titles and cultural gender indicators, such as dress. People dressing and living differently from their sex assignment at birth and contributing to various aspects of British history and culture have been documented from the 14th century to the present day. In the 20th century, advances in medicine, social and biological sciences and transgender activism have influenced transgender life in the UK.
Kataluna Patricia Enriquez is an American beauty pageant titleholder. In March 2021, she won the Miss Silver State USA pageant. On June 27, 2021, she was crowned Miss Nevada USA. With her wins, she became the first openly transgender woman to earn the titles and to become qualified to compete in the Miss USA pageant. She is also the owner of a clothing line, Kataluna Kouture.
