June 19 2000

All change for transsexual vicar, with bishop’s blessing

LONDON (AFP) - - A transsexual vicar is to become the first serving Church of England priest to change sex and resume his job as a woman, and has the blessing of his bishop, he announced Monday.

The Reverend Peter Stone, the vicar at St Philip’s Church, Upper Stratton, Swindon, in western England, will have the operation later this year, he told a press conference.

He will then resume his position as the Reverend Carol Stone.

He said he had wanted to be female since he was a small child, and told of his relief at receiving the blessing of the bishop of Bristol for his plans.

“It has been a lifetime’s journey,” he added.  “Among my earliest memories are of me wishing that I was other than I am.

“Every night I prayed I would wake up as a girl.  If there was another way, I would not be here today.  Nobody does this by choice.”

He added: “I just want to match up my head and heart with my body.”

Stone, who is twice divorced, said his daughter of 18 fully understood his decision.

Asked if he had ventured out in public dressed as a woman, Stone said the opportunities had been “extremely limited.”

And asked why he chose the name Carol, he replied: “It’s a pretty name and I liked it.  That’s all I want to say about it really.”

The bishop, the Right Reverend Barry Rogerson, said everyone in the parish had been supportive of the vicar.

He said he was sure from his own research that the transsexual state Stone found himself in was a medical condition.

He confirmed he could see no “ethical or ecclesiastical legal reasons” why Stone should not continue in ministry.

© Copyright 2000 AFP