'Croydon Trans Group saved my life'
"I KNEW I was born into the wrong body really young, I was seven. I didn't feel normal. I was supposed to be a girl, I just wasn't born that way."
Helen Doe was born a boy, but says her whole life has been "one long struggle" as she fought to find her own identity.
Now 50, Helen only started dressing and living her life as a woman three years ago after decades of "pain and suffering" living as a man – during which time she says she even contemplated taking her own life.
She said: "It is the hardest thing you can imagine. You are dealing with your own thoughts while worrying about what your friends and family will say.
"When I first told my mum I was meant to be a woman, it was hard for her to accept. She thought I was going out being a prostitute.
"She didn't understand what it meant, but these are the sort of prejudices we have to deal with."
Today, Helen will not even reveal her former name, insisting that part of her life is now fully behind her.
"I made a vow to myself that I will never be that person again. My name is Helen Doe and that is all people need to know," she said.
"It has been a long hard battle to get where I am today. I have had to deal with a lot. I have been attacked twice in Croydon by gangs of young people who think it is OK because I am different.
"I have been shouted at in the street and it is just not right, but things are getting better now.
"I am at the stage where I have been living as a woman for two years. In February I will qualify for a new birth certificate which will be an amazing feeling.
"I haven't had a sex change yet, I have a long way to go until that but when I do I will have a choice between the full job or one they call the showpiece, which basically means you cannot have relations with others."
Helen is one of the driving forces behind the Croydon Trans Group – a support network that offers help and guidance to transsexuals, cross dressers, intersex people or those who struggle to identify themselves.
She said: "They basically saved my life. I now give talks to people who are struggling to come to terms with what they are and I try to act as a mentor to those who need me.
"It is possible to live a happy life, I am now. I want to be an actress, and going with my heart and living like a woman has changed my life for the better."
2 Comments
by Paula_Gee
Sunday, March 11 2012, 10:41AM
“I think Misterkipling is missing the point, by saying this Helen means that her past is past. For her not a good past, she is not harking back on the bad that has already happened but looking forward to a better future. Focusing on being Helen the woman she is and always was, not the man she had to pretend to be.
I think it is very brave of her to be public and applaud her commitment to society, helping others who may be having problems with who and what they are.”
by Misterkipling
Thursday, February 09 2012, 2:31PM
“'My name is Helen Doe and that is all people need to know," she said.'
Well just at a guess if that statement is true then you probably shouldn't have an entire news article telling people far far more that your name is Helen Doe then, surely”