Couple who met as women to marry as men as they both undergo sex change surgery

 

Getting wed: They met as women but will marry as men

Kate Bushnell was stunned when her live-in girlfriend sat her down and confessed she wanted to become a man.
The pair had been together for two years yet Kate had no idea lover Abbie Games had secretly battled an overwhelming desire to change sex since her childhood.
To Abbie’s delight, Kate put her heartache and confusion aside, vowing to stand by her as she went through the transformation into Finlay.
And it seemed their gay relationship was about to go straight.
But in a bizarre twist, as Finlay’s hormone treatment helped him grow facial hair and he prepared to have his breasts removed, Kate began to have serious doubts that she too was a man trapped in a woman’s body.
“I saw Finlay’s body change and started to hate my own. It dawned on me that I wished I was going through it too.”
So just days before Finlay’s breasts op, Kate opened up about her feelings.
“I told him I wanted to go through gender reassignment too. I could tell he was shocked but he obviously understood how I was feeling.
“With Finlay’s support, I changed my name to Drew and started my own journey.”
Now the one-time lesbian couple are engaged – and planning to marry as gay men.

 

Transformation: Abbie

Their remarkable story began in an Oxford bar in 2006. They instantly clicked over their shared love of clubbing and real ale.
They were best friends for four years before becoming a couple in 2010 and moving in together. They settled into what seemed a happy domestic life – but Finlay was in turmoil.
“Since the age of 10 I always knew I was different. I knew I was gay at 14,” he says. “I never felt comfortable in my own skin. I hated pink, Barbie dolls and refused to wear dresses.
“My mum knew something was wrong and even took me to a doctor when I was a teenager but was told it was just a phase.
"To try to cope with my feelings, I drank a lot through my teens and early 20s. I hoped alcohol would make me feel better about myself but it didn’t.”
As Abbie, Finlay was happy with Kate, but began to realise only gender reassignment surgery would make him truly content. So he bit the bullet and told her everything.
Finlay, 40, says: “Telling her was always going to be the hardest part of my transition. I was so nervous but she was incredibly supportive.”
Drew, 32, adds: “It was out of the blue. He sat me down and told me he was a man born in a woman’s body and wanted gender reassignment surgery.
"Nothing could have prepared me for the shock.
“But I loved him and realised I didn’t care what gender he was as long as he was happy.”
So Finlay started binding his breasts and wearing baggy shirts, low-slung jeans and basketball trainers. He also received counselling sessions from his doctor.

 

Close: Finlay Games and Drew Bushnell

A year later in 2013 he started hormone ­treatment which caused his voice to deepen and facial hair to grow.
But the biggest step was having his B-cup breasts removed in November 2013, an operation he says changed his life.
“I knew I had to get rid of my breasts,” Finlay says. “They were literally making me gag every time I looked at them.
“Being able to go topless as a man was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I went to Glastonbury and it felt incredible to pull off my shirt and show off my manly chest.
“For the first time people weren’t referring to me as ‘Miss’ anymore they were calling me ‘Sir’ and it was a real milestone in my life.”
As Finlay relished his changing body, he didn’t realise his girlfriend was looking on in envy. Then she told him she wanted to become a man too.
“I could tell he was shocked,” says Drew. “But he obviously understood how I was feeling.
“Finlay had regularly talked about feeling like the odd one out as a child. It made me look back on my childhood and see I’d had a similar experience.
“I grew up with two brothers and was happiest when I was messing around with them, playing football and wrestling. But my mum told me I should be more ladylike, which I resented.
“My worst moment was when I had to wear a bra for the first time, I was mortified. All I wanted to do was hang around in baggy T-shirts and cut my hair short, but I wasn’t allowed.”

 

Transformation: Kate

Recognising his own feelings in his partner, Drew says he had a “light bulb moment”.
And 18 months after Finlay’s revelation, it was his turn to stun his partner.
“It felt surreal, only months earlier it was Finlay telling me and now it was the other way round,” he says.
“I didn’t know how he was going to take it. But he was so ­understanding – I couldn’t have asked for more.”
Finlay says: “It was a real shock. But I was happy my journey had inspired him and helped him realise who he really was.”
With Finlay’s support, Drew began attending a gender identity clinic after a year of adjusting to life as a man at home. In January, he started to live as a man and the pair became a gay couple.
Finlay says: “It was as if we were going in circles. We started off as a gay couple then became a straight couple, now we were going back to the beginning.
"Looking back, I think this is why we clicked from the start. Without knowing it, we recognised we were both men in the wrong bodies.
"Now we’re helping each other put right what nature got wrong.”
Following their engagement last November, the couple plan to wed in 2017 when both their gender reassignments are complete.

 

Happy now: Finlay

Drew must live as a man for a year before starting hormone treatment, while Finlay is planning on having gender reassignment surgery over three ops, starting in 2016.
The couple plan to have a spiritual wedding in Glasgow with all their family and friends there. They hope that, by telling their story, they’ll inspire other people who might not have accepted their transgenderism.
Finlay says: “I have spent years wondering what’s wrong with me – without the proper information available I became confused and angry with myself. I can’t begin to imagine what other young trans-people go through.
“My family support has been amazing and Drew has been my rock, I don’t know how I could have done it without him.
“Now he is going through the transition I know I have to be there for him too. It will be different when he goes on hormone therapy – when my voice started to deepen Drew told me I sounded like Barry White! It’s going to be a huge change.”
Drew says: “I am excited for the next few stages of my life. I want to finally feel ­comfortable with my body and be truly happy.
"We met as confused women, unable to know if we would ever be happy with our bodies, but now we will marry confident and happy – as men.”