[News/People] [UK] Transgender woman from Wells talks about her journey from man to woman and the life-changing op
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Stephanie Stevens
Oct 1, 2016, 8:46:40 AM10/1/16
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Somerset Live, UK
Transgender woman from Wells talks about her journey from man to woman and the life-changing op
By Andrew Doyle | Posted: September 30, 2016
Life as a transgender woman is anything but straightforward particularly when you have to explain the choice to your closest family.
But it's the path Nicola Florida who lives in Wells has chosen.
And it's a decision she finally made at the age of 47, about two years ago.
"There comes a time when you have to be one or the other, after struggling with it for it for so many years," she said.
She's on a journey which could ultimately end in a full gender reassignment by surgery if specialists agree that's appropriate for her.
READ FURTHER: What do you do if you think you want to be a transgender woman? Nicola Florida from Wells explains
And Miss Florida wants to reach out to others as she undergoes this life-changing path, by starting up a mutual LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) support group in Wells.
In the last two years she has opened up to her 80-year-old father who is attempting to accept her as she is.
She concedes it's difficult for him – and her.
"He's a different generation and he still wants to call me by my former name and asks me not to dress as a woman if I see him but I can't now," said the 50-year-old who in her previous life was married.
[Video: Nicola Florida talks about deciding to take the transgender path.]
[Photo: Nicola Florida - now, and as a teenage boy]
Her sense of feeling different she says started at the dressing up box in school.
The little boy he was at the time instinctively reached for the girls clothes.
"And when we did the school play I wanted to be Mary instead of one of the three kings or Joseph," said Miss Florida.
But these early choices were politely overlooked she says – along with her mother catching her teenage son dressing up in her clothes.
"I think she thought it was just a phase. I was expected to just get married and have children at some point."
And marriage did happen though it ended tragically with the death of his wife Julie after only a few years.
Other relationships with women followed as the man that she was tried to reconcile the female feelings inside.
"I just thought I wanted to dress up in women's clothes but in about 1999 I gave myself a good talking to and realised I wanted to be a woman," she said.
It wasn't until some years later still, that inspired by a transgender friend, Miss Florida finally decided to take the path fully.
[Video: Nicola Florida talks about revealing to her father she was transgender]
Currently she is visiting the West London Mental Health NHS Trust Gender Identity Clinic near Charing Cross Hospital every six months to see a team which includes a psychiatrist, who will eventually assess whether or not she should undergo full gender reassignment.
She says she's looking for a job and by and large being treated with respect by most of the people she deals with.
Miss Florida must live completely as a woman during this time – and hormone treatment is likely at some point.
She says this stage doesn't come without it's humorous - if confusing moments, like using the correct loo. She should be using the ladies as part of her programme.
"In Brighton they have a special transgender toilet the split the male and female sign and add them together!"
She laughs – but underneath, there is clear determination to see this journey to its conclusion.
*If you want to find out about the LBGT group being set up in Wells please contact andrew...@localworld.co.uk and we'll pass your details to Miss Florida.
http://www.somersetlive.co.uk/ transgender-woman-from-wells- talks-about-her-journey-from- man-to-woman-and-the-life- changing-op/story-29767493- detail/story.html
Transgender woman from Wells talks about her journey from man to woman and the life-changing op
By Andrew Doyle | Posted: September 30, 2016
Life as a transgender woman is anything but straightforward particularly when you have to explain the choice to your closest family.
But it's the path Nicola Florida who lives in Wells has chosen.
And it's a decision she finally made at the age of 47, about two years ago.
"There comes a time when you have to be one or the other, after struggling with it for it for so many years," she said.
She's on a journey which could ultimately end in a full gender reassignment by surgery if specialists agree that's appropriate for her.
READ FURTHER: What do you do if you think you want to be a transgender woman? Nicola Florida from Wells explains
And Miss Florida wants to reach out to others as she undergoes this life-changing path, by starting up a mutual LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) support group in Wells.
In the last two years she has opened up to her 80-year-old father who is attempting to accept her as she is.
She concedes it's difficult for him – and her.
"He's a different generation and he still wants to call me by my former name and asks me not to dress as a woman if I see him but I can't now," said the 50-year-old who in her previous life was married.
[Video: Nicola Florida talks about deciding to take the transgender path.]
[Photo: Nicola Florida - now, and as a teenage boy]
Her sense of feeling different she says started at the dressing up box in school.
The little boy he was at the time instinctively reached for the girls clothes.
"And when we did the school play I wanted to be Mary instead of one of the three kings or Joseph," said Miss Florida.
But these early choices were politely overlooked she says – along with her mother catching her teenage son dressing up in her clothes.
"I think she thought it was just a phase. I was expected to just get married and have children at some point."
And marriage did happen though it ended tragically with the death of his wife Julie after only a few years.
Other relationships with women followed as the man that she was tried to reconcile the female feelings inside.
"I just thought I wanted to dress up in women's clothes but in about 1999 I gave myself a good talking to and realised I wanted to be a woman," she said.
It wasn't until some years later still, that inspired by a transgender friend, Miss Florida finally decided to take the path fully.
[Video: Nicola Florida talks about revealing to her father she was transgender]
Currently she is visiting the West London Mental Health NHS Trust Gender Identity Clinic near Charing Cross Hospital every six months to see a team which includes a psychiatrist, who will eventually assess whether or not she should undergo full gender reassignment.
She says she's looking for a job and by and large being treated with respect by most of the people she deals with.
Miss Florida must live completely as a woman during this time – and hormone treatment is likely at some point.
She says this stage doesn't come without it's humorous - if confusing moments, like using the correct loo. She should be using the ladies as part of her programme.
"In Brighton they have a special transgender toilet the split the male and female sign and add them together!"
She laughs – but underneath, there is clear determination to see this journey to its conclusion.
*If you want to find out about the LBGT group being set up in Wells please contact andrew...@localworld.co.uk and we'll pass your details to Miss Florida.
http://www.somersetlive.co.uk/ transgender-woman-from-wells- talks-about-her-journey-from- man-to-woman-and-the-life- changing-op/story-29767493- detail/story.html
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