The lines in the gender wars of the past decade are starkly drawn. On one side stands the LGBT lobby headed by Stonewall, fighting for society to treat trans people according to their “gender identity” rather than biological sex, even in matters of prisons and sport. On the other are gender-critical feminists who believe this is calamitous for women’s hard-won rights. It is a toxic fight in which few change sides and even fewer defy their supposed tribe. Which makes Debbie Hayton a very unusual combatant.
From early boyhood, Hayton, now 55, fought a powerful inner urge to be female, yet went on to marry and father three children. After full gender reassignment surgery at 47, she initially embraced trans activism before starting to believe
