Monday - May 26, 2008

Sex change Paratrooper wins £250,000 for ‘hurt feelings’

Hurt Feelings get ya half a million bucks?

Brit GIs don’t get that for losing limbs.  Something wrong with that I think.

By Andy Bloxham
Last Updated: 2:08PM BST 25/05/2008

A former paratrooper who had a sex change operation has won a payout of £250,000 for hurt feelings after she was ordered to wear a man’s uniform to a medical examination.

Jan Hamilton, 43, used to be Captain Ian Hamilton and served in Bosnia and Afghanistan and was wounded by a roadside bomb in Iraq.

She then began gender reassignment surgery and claimed she made repeated requests to discuss the transition with her superiors.

However, Miss Hamilton said she was summoned to attend a compulsory medical examination in April 2007 while wearing her male uniform.

A £45,000-a-year job as the head of Army media relations in Gibraltar was then withdrawn, which she claimed was as a result of her sex change.

Miss Hamilton, who had refused to attend the medical, began legal action against the Ministry of Defence for sexual discrimination and unfair dismissal.

She said: “It would have been humiliating and demeaning for me to turn up for my medical examination dressed in a man’s uniform.”

The MoD then decided to pay her the £250,000 in an out-of-court settlement.

The size of the payout is likely to anger campaigners for better compensation for those injured in the line of duty.

According to current MoD settlements, soldiers receive £57,000 for the loss of a leg and £285,000 for the loss of both arms or legs.
Miss Hamilton said: “I’m now looking forward to a future outside the Parachute Regiment.”

A spokesman for the MoD said: “Jan Hamilton has decided to bring her service with the armed forced to an end and is pursuing other career opportunities.”

http://tinyurl.com/6ghzcj

Posted by Drew458     on 05/26/2008 at 08:58 AM   
Filed Under: • War-Stories •  
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