Inclusiveness or Lunacy?
This is the most ridiculous and pathetic story I have read this year. It is definitely hard to think about a better metaphor for what the UK is doing to itself with Islam than the ludicrous story of Mr. Laurens Vallender. Mr Vallender is a former trained British soldier who suddenly decided to swap his Territorial Army beret for a veil and then became Britain’s first transgender Muslim woman. Laurens Vallender now calls himself Lucy and says he is finally ‘true to herself’ after a sex change three years ago. He is now married to a Muslim man he met on an online dating site, but he did not know he was once a man when they wed. I just bet. Look at that face. Vallender explains: ‘I didn’t tell him I was transsexual but he must have suspected it as he he’s seen my scars.’ [2] Yes, of course, the man is probably a half-witt. The whole thing is just ridiculous. Who could possibly suspect Laurens/Lucy is a man? He/She look so feminine and delicate. At the end of the day, maybe the British should rejoice: the UK has the first known transgender gay Muslim soldier[3] If this lunacy would have happened in the United States, you can bet your bottom dollar that the Democrats would already be encouraging him to run for President. Vallender said ‘she used to love firing guns’ and claims she drank regularly with the other squaddies as a TA private, but Lucy knew at 14 she wanted to become a woman. ‘I tried to do macho things you know to stop how I was thinking, but it didn’t work because I was trying to be someone I wasn’t,’ she said. ‘I felt differently to others – I was attracted to men. [4] After quitting the TA the 28-year-old started dressing as a woman and had relationships with men. She also grew her hair and had hormone therapy before her life-changing operation. He now wears a full veil outside her Swindon home to show the world he is married. No matter what you think about women’s rights and freedom of expression, the case of Mr. Vallender is on of those rare time where everyone can unite around a Burka. There are many reasons why he/she SHOULD wear one. Mr. Vallender told his GP he was ‘in the wrong body’ and three years ago had his sex change. [5] He then went back to work as a Ministry of Defence kitchen porter. In another major life change, he then converted to Islam because it promoted peace, he said.
‘I had thought about it for a while but it is such a taboo I thought. But I did it because it is a nice religion – so peaceful. [6]
If there were any doubts that this man is completely delusional, they have just been resolved. His conversion to Islam followed last Autumn and then he married Murad at a small ceremony at his home in London.
I’ve seen him twice since the wedding. When I do we have sex. [7]
It really must be something. So in a way it’s safe to say that this is a proper gay marriage, which make it even more bizarre in an Islamic context. Vallender feels more comfortable in her own skin now more than ever before, but unfortunately some members of her new religious community don’t feel the same way. He confesses that he did run into trouble with the local mosque in Swindon, Wiltshire, as they would not let him pray with the women. [8]
They asked me questions about my bra cup size, asked about my Adam’s apple, about my period and asked to see my birth certificate. [9]
Mr Vallender says he has been victimised by worhippers, who he says have asked him personal questions and banned him because he is a transexual, and he wants to ‘get justice’ for transgender and Muslim people.
