A university chaplain has become the Methodist Church's first transgender minister in Great Britain after hiding her true identity for more than four
A university chaplain has become the Methodist Church’s first transgender minister in Great Britain after hiding her true identity for more than four decades. Joy Everingham, 46, spent years secretly applying lipstick and wearing women’s clothes before finally coming out three years ago. She first announced that she planned to transition while training to become a minister, before becoming ordained last summer. It is the first time a transgender person has been appointed as a minister in the church with the church’s knowledge. The mother-of-two from Canterbury, Kent, says she first knew she was different aged just five, and ‘didn’t fit in with everyone else’. She said: “I wasn’t like the boys, I was always more like the girls.”
The minister is currently undergoing a transitioning process that involves hormone therapy and wearing women’s clothing full time all approved by Church Leaders.
