Britain's First Transsexual Mayor
CAMBRIDGE, England -- The mayor is a transsexual, so is her partner, and this university city is taking them in stride.
Jenny Bailey, 45, was installed Thursday as mayor of the Cambridge City Council, and her partner Jennifer Liddle, 49, a former council member, assumed the honorary title of mayoress, which is given to the partner of the mayor.
Both were born men, and had gender reassignment surgery in their 30s. Bailey is the first transsexual to serve as a mayor in Britain. ''This is fantastic,'' Bailey said after being installed.
She has two sons with her ex-wife, who remains a friend.
Rob Hammond, the Council's chief executive, said he knew there would be interest in the new mayor. ''It is the council's firm view that someone's gender and sexual orientation has no bearing on their suitability to hold public office,'' he said.
''People can take me as a role model if they want,'' the Times newspaper quoted Bailey as saying.
Liberal Democrat mayor Jenny Bailey and her partner Jennifer Liddle were both born men before turning into women.
Bailey, 45, who had a sex-change in her thirties, previously fathered two children. She met 49-year-old Liddle, who will be her mayoress, while having hormone replacement therapy.
They have served on Cambridge City Council together and share a home with Bailey's children.
Bailey, whose father was a prison officer, went to college in Coventry before moving to Cambridge where she worked in radio technology. She met her future wife aged 24 and, believing that becoming a family man would make her feel “normal”, they had two boys, aged 18 and 20.
She was unable to shake off the urge to become a woman and the marriage came to an end.
She began hormone therapy aged 29 and a sex change three years later. It was while having hormone therapy that Bailey, now a software engineer, met Liddle, who works in the same business.
Liddle was elected to Cambridge City Council in 2000 and Bailey won her seat two years later.
But the couple found it difficult to juggle politics with family life and Liddle stood down from the council at the local elections this month.
Bailey said they had no problem with being transgender and had not tried to hide it.
“When I first joined the Liberal Democrats, there was a vetting process and they asked, ‘Is there anything in your past that is going to be difficult?’
“I said I was a transgender and they said, 'No, is there anything that is going to be difficult?”
The UK's first transgender mayor was sworn in today.
Liberal Democrat Jenny Bailey, 45, who had a sex swap when she was in her 30s, has been appointed the civic leader of Cambridge City Council.
When asked how proud she was to be mayor of Cambridge, she said: "This is fantastic."
After donning her mayoral robes, she posed for photographs with her partner, Jennifer Liddle, 49, a former city councillor who also had a sex swap.
Ms Bailey was greeted with loud applause as she was announced as mayor in a meeting held in the council chambers, attended by councillors and some of her friends and family.
She then chaired a meeting of the council that was expected to last most of the day.
Rob Hammond, chief executive of Cambridge City Council, said: "I'm confident Ms Bailey will be a great ambassador for Cambridge.
"I am aware that there will be interest in Ms Bailey's male-to-female gender reassignment.
"It is the council's firm view that someone's gender and sexual orientation has no bearing on their suitability to hold public office. What matters is the person's ability to do the job and to do it well and that is how they should be judged.
"When Ms Bailey is confirmed in post it will be business as usual for the council."
Council leader Ian Nimmo-Smith said: "I am looking forward to supporting Jenny as she takes the leading role in Cambridge's civic life for the coming year.
"Jenny has fulfilled the role of deputy mayor in the past year with great distinction and we already know that she will make a really great mayor."
Jenny Bailey, 45, was installed Thursday as mayor of the Cambridge City Council, and her partner Jennifer Liddle, 49, a former council member, assumed the honorary title of mayoress, which is given to the partner of the mayor.
Both were born men, and had gender reassignment surgery in their 30s. Bailey is the first transsexual to serve as a mayor in Britain. ''This is fantastic,'' Bailey said after being installed.
She has two sons with her ex-wife, who remains a friend.
Rob Hammond, the Council's chief executive, said he knew there would be interest in the new mayor. ''It is the council's firm view that someone's gender and sexual orientation has no bearing on their suitability to hold public office,'' he said.
''People can take me as a role model if they want,'' the Times newspaper quoted Bailey as saying.
Liberal Democrat mayor Jenny Bailey and her partner Jennifer Liddle were both born men before turning into women.
Bailey, 45, who had a sex-change in her thirties, previously fathered two children. She met 49-year-old Liddle, who will be her mayoress, while having hormone replacement therapy.
They have served on Cambridge City Council together and share a home with Bailey's children.
Bailey, whose father was a prison officer, went to college in Coventry before moving to Cambridge where she worked in radio technology. She met her future wife aged 24 and, believing that becoming a family man would make her feel “normal”, they had two boys, aged 18 and 20.
She was unable to shake off the urge to become a woman and the marriage came to an end.
She began hormone therapy aged 29 and a sex change three years later. It was while having hormone therapy that Bailey, now a software engineer, met Liddle, who works in the same business.
Liddle was elected to Cambridge City Council in 2000 and Bailey won her seat two years later.
But the couple found it difficult to juggle politics with family life and Liddle stood down from the council at the local elections this month.
Bailey said they had no problem with being transgender and had not tried to hide it.
“When I first joined the Liberal Democrats, there was a vetting process and they asked, ‘Is there anything in your past that is going to be difficult?’
“I said I was a transgender and they said, 'No, is there anything that is going to be difficult?”
The UK's first transgender mayor was sworn in today.
Liberal Democrat Jenny Bailey, 45, who had a sex swap when she was in her 30s, has been appointed the civic leader of Cambridge City Council.
When asked how proud she was to be mayor of Cambridge, she said: "This is fantastic."
After donning her mayoral robes, she posed for photographs with her partner, Jennifer Liddle, 49, a former city councillor who also had a sex swap.
Ms Bailey was greeted with loud applause as she was announced as mayor in a meeting held in the council chambers, attended by councillors and some of her friends and family.
She then chaired a meeting of the council that was expected to last most of the day.
Rob Hammond, chief executive of Cambridge City Council, said: "I'm confident Ms Bailey will be a great ambassador for Cambridge.
"I am aware that there will be interest in Ms Bailey's male-to-female gender reassignment.
"It is the council's firm view that someone's gender and sexual orientation has no bearing on their suitability to hold public office. What matters is the person's ability to do the job and to do it well and that is how they should be judged.
"When Ms Bailey is confirmed in post it will be business as usual for the council."
Council leader Ian Nimmo-Smith said: "I am looking forward to supporting Jenny as she takes the leading role in Cambridge's civic life for the coming year.
"Jenny has fulfilled the role of deputy mayor in the past year with great distinction and we already know that she will make a really great mayor."
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