British sex-swap ex-fireman weds Jamaican lesbian

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

A thrice-married former fireman who has become a woman has married a Jamaican lesbian who is almost 30 years her junior, the Daily Mail newspaper has reported.

Sixty-six-year-old Kerry Whybrow, dressed in a full-length custom-made lilac dress, tied the knot for the first time as a woman three years after undergoing a sex change on the National Health Service.

Her partner, Alicia, a mother of one and almost 30 years her junior, met Whybrow through an international dating website, the Daily Mail reported.

After the ceremony — and ticking the final box for a portrait of a very 21st century marriage — one of Whybrow's former wives laid on the reception.

"Miss Whybrow spent 22 years in the fire service, fathered a daughter and enjoyed pursuits such as shark fishing, rugby and shooting during three marriages as the then Roger Steed," the Daily Mail report said.

The 6ft 2in former angling instructor met Alicia in 2008 but had spent just a fortnight with the 37-year-old Jamaican before she flew to England to prepare for their 'wedding'.

Alicia, who has been living in the United States, arrived in December on a six-month visa, which the couple hope will be extended in the light of their civil partnership, the Daily Mail story said, adding that the couple said living in Jamaica is not an option "because homophobia is rife on the island".

"It was a wonderful day," Whybrow said of the ceremony at the register office in her home town of King's Lynn, Norfolk. "There were a few strange looks from the locals when we came out of the register office but we don't care about that. Alicia is a special lady who has given up a lot to be with me in cold rural England. I don't think this is what she dreamed of in life.

"I'm incredibly lucky to have found somebody who loves me for being me, after spending so much of my life as a man, always feeling something was not right."

The Daily Mail report said that Whybrow's only child, Heather, 41, snubbed the ceremony, having disowned her father in 2005 when the then Mr Steed announced he wanted to change gender. However, the wedding was attended by his third wife Cindy Steed, who even hosted a reception at her bungalow outside King's Lynn.

"She remains one of only a few former friends or relatives to have stood by Miss Whybrow since the sex change. The couple, who cannot afford a honeymoon, spent the night in a local hotel," the newspaper reported.

The story said that Alicia, whose son lives with his grandparents in Jamaica, wore a long green dress for the ceremony.

"Her parents do not know she is a lesbian, let alone that she has just entered into a civil partnership with a woman who was formerly a man," said the Daily Mail report.

But Alicia, whose sister flew in from America for the service, said she was comfortable with her partner's background.

"I have only known Kerry as a woman and that is how I see her," she added. "I'm very happy with her, I love her very much."

Whybrow, who now cleans buses for a living, said she was 14 or 15 when she first tried on women's clothing, but fought a secret battle with her gender through the three marriages until she was eventually diagnosed with gender dysphoria.

"Born in Ashton, near Manchester, Miss Whybrow was adopted by Catherine and Frank Steed, a couple in their 50s who ran a bed and breakfast in Devon," the story said. "She married -- as Roger Steed -- for the first time in 1966 to Audrey Morris and their daughter was born three years later.

"The couple 'drifted apart' and divorced in 1977 but in 1978 a second marriage, to Sylvia Rogers, followed after a whirlwind courtship. They divorced in 1987 and have not spoken for years."

The Daily Mail said that when it got in touch with Sylvia Steed, her reaction to her former husband's latest romance was: "I am completely shocked. I had no idea throughout our marriage [that Roger felt this way about his gender]. I thought he was just a normal man.

"He once trained to be a social worker and he came home and said his tutor had called him a sexist, a racist, and a homophobe and said he was screwed up."

In 1989, Whybrow said 'I do' for the third and final time as a man, marrying the then Cindy Rawlings-Witt. But within a couple of years he confessed that he felt trapped in the wrong gender.

"The sympathetic bride allowed her husband to wear her clothes around the house, but it was only when the relationship formally ended in 2003 that the transsexual sought medical help and began dressing in public as a woman before going on to have full 'gender reassignment surgery' in 2008," the Daily Mail story said.

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COMMENTS (7)

Maude Cooper
2/17/2011

ann g
Even so, live and let live!

ann g
2/16/2011

I lived in Enland for a number of yrs and the oldest trick in the book i to bawlout that you are Jmaaican and gay and therefore seek relief for immigration benefits..ad after looking this picture, i have questions

Yard Vibz
2/16/2011

What a lovely couple! Alicia must have yearned for this glorious occasion for yrs. Bwoy, yuh cyan put nuttin past J'cans a tall... Anyhow, even with a concealed face, the authentic female displays many attributes that could’ve dazzled either gender. So then, with that perception, inquisitive people, such as my good friend GW, may have been persuaded to label this seemingly genuine union as one of convenience. The only pitfall to your assumption Sir George is the fact that Alicia lives in the US.

Maurice Cole
2/16/2011

Is jamaica as homophobic as they would like us to believe? Most jamaicans will utterly lambast the lifestyle but would NEVER raise a finger to harm anyone. Where is the freedom of speech For hetrosexuals to say what they think of this lifestyle? If we really think about it most of us know or are related to someone who has chosen a homosexual lifestyle.

Maude Cooper
2/16/2011

I have nothing against gays, as a matter of fact some of the funniest people I know are gay, but if some of them continue to hide their faces, what message do they think they are sending? The way I see it, if someone can accept me as a heterosexual, I can accept them whatever sex they want to be; that is between them and their God and nothing to do with me.

Y B
2/16/2011

What is the news value of this? Who cares about this?

george watson
2/16/2011

I think Alicia is just taking this poor person for a ride -- possibly to get stay in England. If she were a genuine lesbian why not marry a real woman, instead of a woman who was once a man?
I hope this is not the case and wish them every happiness.

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British sex-swap ex-fireman weds Jamaican lesbian