International Transgender Day of Visibility: I transitioned at 63
I met 67-year-old Khristie Leigh Kennison when I was holidaying at a rural bed and breakfast in the country for the weekend. She was also staying there and we got to talking. Khristie then began to speak about being transgender. The next weekend we returned and I asked her if she would be interested in being interviewed for International Transgender Day of Visibility (March 31). She was delighted at the opportunity to finally be able to share her unique and courageous journey as a male-to-female transgender person. When did you first realise you were transgender? To me, life is a fancy dress party from start to finish. I was cross-dressing from about 5 years old, and then at high school I was probably very underdeveloped from a male point of view, though my father pushed me into being a rugby player and doing the “boy things." I suppose more when I was in my mid to late 20s, where there was this unbelievable compulsion to cross-dress, and it wasn’t out of a sexual-gratif