That meant I had a room to myself. Comments from 'unknown' and anonymous will also be declined. In a fitting tribute to its founding president & editor in chief, Chief Learning Officer magazine unveiled the Norman B. Kamikow Learning Leadership Award, naming Diana Thomas, VP U.S . Manuela Svoboda & Petra Zagar-Sostaric. [2] She was mocked in Private Eye for her frequent contribution to these newspapers, being satirised as "Daily Thomas of the David Mail". I feel Im writing something of real value because Im describing the actual experience of being trans, when there are so many negative stereotypes. A graphic designer working for BBC later disclosed that Bashir had asked him to forge bank statements that showed a former employee of Earl Spencer, Diana's brother, had sold stories to a U.K. national newspaper. How much Artistic Freedom is permitted when it comes to Language? It takes only one or two non-masculine elements to intrude upon a man's appearance for his whole identity to fall apart. Get your hair cut, you look like a woman said a stranger on the street. Opening my post recently, I came across an anonymous letter addressed to 'Mr Diana Thomas', and consisting of eight words, scrawled in black ink: 'Please stop writing your s**t in the . She suffers dreadfully from internalised transphobia. Id had enough of that. [10] Julie Bindel, the feminist activist and writer, has criticised the column, pointing out that Thomas was previously a men's rights activist. Privilege is relative. says Simmons in the documentary. Needless to say, it has been a tough couple of years, not least with her family, a subject she will never discuss publicly, apart from her father: 'He . In 2008, the British inquest concluded that the accident was caused by the grossly negligent driving of chauffeur Henri Paul and the group of paparazzi photographers who were following the car. Telegraph columnist Diana Thomas reveals all to Jane Gordon. . A woman has to retain only one or two visible elements of femininity in order to keep her gender identity intact. As a result, the Queen urged Diana and Charles who had been separated since 1992 to divorce, and Diana was stripped of the title of Her Royal Highness. Diana, Princess of Wales, pours her heart out to BBC journalist Martin Bashir in 1995. . The direction of travel is constant. He was only ever kind and loving and was keeping all my columns to turn into a book for friends. She wrote an article for the Daily Mail, headed Ex-Cambridge University rower and married dad DIANA THOMAS spent six decades as a man So why does she say trans militants are only stoking intolerance?. Thats just science. One supposedly well-meaning person kept saying, Im the only person brave enough to say this as if all my friends were twittering maliciously behind my back.. "Telegraph20200304">ce.co.uk/tom-cain/bibliography/ "name="Telegraph20200304">Bibliography Tom Cain AuthorsPlace", "Tim Dowliname="Telegraph20200304">ng talks to David Thomas", "What women really want? Diana began her career as a McDonald's restaurant crew member in 1979, and rose to become Vice President of Training, Learning & Development for McDonald's USA. "Tim Dowling talks to David Thomas".BBC. That does not always entail the full gender transition that I am undertaking. Her happiness may be genuine, but doesnt she worry that in writing so openly about her transition in her Telegraph column she is exposing herself to a certain section of the public that seems to be increasingly transphobic? Her royal security was also removed. He reveals that had the circumstances been different that night, allowing her rare heart injury to be identified earlier, she may have had a chance. I'm a fierce defender of the rights of transwomen, and a doughty opponent of anti-trans prejudice. And Brighton is probably the most LGBTQ-friendly place in Britain. Thomas is the Contributing European Sustainability Editor for British Vogue and a regular contributor to The New York Times Style section. The film had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on September 5, 2020. I think I have a lot to offer any man, dont you?, Diana's column continues in Telegraph Magazine next week. [9] Between 2007 and 2012, she wrote a well-received series of thrillers about a former Royal Marine, turned assassin, Samuel Carver. What impact did Diana's revealing BBC interview have on the final years of her life? They experiment with attitudes and lifestyles that may take decades to reach the straight community. You may type in a name if you don't have a Google id. Personally, I try to define myself in ways that make sense, to me or any other reasonable person. Physically, I'm 6ft tall. the USA in 1979, Left: Interviewing - Analysis of a Crime Novel. Diana Thomas (formerly David Thomas; born 17 January 1959), better known by the pen name Tom Cain, [2] [3] is an English journalist and author of a series of thriller novels about protagonist Samuel Carver. Story of BBC journalist Martin Bashir's dealings with Princess of Wales is of searing public interest. In that sense, surely, she is being brave? But Henri, in my opinion, has nothing to do with this case," Garrec says. No, I wouldnt enter into a relationship until some time after I have had the operation, she says carefully after a thoughtful pause. When I started the column I needed the money, I needed a job and look, I am a writer, and something interesting was happening to me so of course I am going to write about it. I am not faking this. Add some good to your morning and evening. Of course, as my experience in hospital this week has shown, part of me will always be male . None of us is perfect, but most of us try our best to be decent and kind to others. Nor can such a person whose baby is happily guzzling milk from their nipple be described as 'breastfeeding'. I am not pretending I am not still him in many ways. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. Could she have potentially survived her injuries from the crash? And thankfully, most people do. It shouldnt mean risking peoples safety. "So, for me, something happened that we don't know. [1], She has spoken at the Aspen Ideas Festival, Harvard Business School, Yale School of Management, TedxOxford, Business of Fashion Voices, and the Copenhagen Fashion Summit. Clearly happier in her own more muted and understated clothes than in some of the brighter, bolder coloured coats, skirts and dresses that have been called in by the stylist (Diana admits that in the last 18 months or so she has almost caught up on the 40 years of shopping she missed out on when she was David), these days her taste tends towards modern classics such as Me+Em and Uniqlo. A variety of newsletters you'll love, delivered straight to you. [7] Prior to, Sony Pictures Classics acquired worldwide distribution rights to the film, excluding Italy. Of course, there are bound to be complications. She might have got beyond Were born this way. I would much rather defeat ignorance and transphobia with persuasive argument. Contact Diana, search articles and Tweets, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. In February 2015, Penguin Press published Thomas's second book, Gods and Kings: The Rise and Fall of Alexander McQueen and John Galliano,[5] an investigative double biography of two monumental British fashion designers who succumbed to the pressures of corporate luxury fashion in a globalized world. I go in there to have a pee. in Print Journalism at American University in Washington D.C. in 1988. Science has long known that some people are born physically intersex. And had her car really been tampered with? And yet, ironically, I thought I was protecting my family and my marriage by trying so hard to be a real man, she writes. magazine Punch in 1991, In 2017, Thomas was a fellow at the Logan Nonfiction Program of the Carey Institute for Global Good. Studio 2, Chelsea Gate Studios, 115 Harwood Road, London, SW6 4QL, Country & Town House Mostly, though, I was 'love', 'my darling', or even, on one occasion, 'sweetheart'. French police stated that Paul was under the influence of alcohol when he took to the wheel that night. This byline is for a different person with the same name. I mean I need a lot; I need about three womens supply. Tina Turner in Homosexuals are pioneers for the male sex. But did no one stop for a second to consider how bog-standard natal females, who account for 99.9 per cent of all births, and regard motherhood as the most profoundly female of all experiences, might feel? Learn how your comment data is processed. She is hoping that she will gain a similar level of approval from the public as she received a week previously when she attended a dinner party thrown by a university mate and his wife to introduce Diana to their old friends. By Diana Thomas | The Telegraph I'm transgender. My oestrogen and testosterone levels are now indistinguishable from those of a woman my age taking HRT. But the fact that we are now two 60-something women hopefully on the same side is not as strangeas I expected it to be. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. On the other are the trans activists who insist that all a person should have to do to change sex is wake up one morning, say, 'I'm a woman,' or, 'I'm a man,' and that is enough to make them what they want to be, regardless of how they look, sound, talk or behave. In 2021 she went to a private hospital for an enucleation of the prostate. Her 87-year-old father succumbed to Covid. Afew days ago, I had an operation to correct a condition that had gone from being an inconvenience to something potentially much more dangerous. Now we meet again at Scarfes and Dianas in a celebratory mood. Diana Thomas Chief Financial Officer at Capco, LLC Grand Junction, CO Capco, LLC, +8 more University of South Carolina - The Moore School of Business, +2 more Diana Thomas Marketing operations. Sometimes people say to me, Why do you want to be a woman? A couple were coming the other way. While there he edited a best-of anthology from the magazine. But I also blub my eyes out to Strictly Come Dancing and I rather like the fact that I can do both of those things.. Its such a faff. And it is a faff, but I love the faff. I mean, just how lunatic do you have to be to transfer a male sex-offender convicted of raping women to a womens prison, just because he has suddenly decided that hes female, too? I dont know if anyone suddenly decides they are female, but while prisoners may lie I want trans women treated as women, even by prisons. I am not female in the same way you are because I have never in my life had a period, but of course at our age nor does any other woman. I had quite nice boy legs, but they were hairy and let me tell you, being zapped 4,000 times in one session is a whole new world of pain. "[11] The column ended on 19 December 2020, with Thomas bidding an emotional farewell to her readers as she reflected on her harrowing transgender journey. It has given my lips a much more feminine shape, but I havent had fillers put in to them. So five years ago, I could say 'I am transgender', and know that it was true and I had the psychiatrists' reports to prove it. Almost the best times are when I'm accepted without people even knowing they're doing it. "It was survivable," Treasure says in the film. Change). '", 'I am going to [die] in an accident helicopter, plane or car crash'. As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work. In November 1995, two years before her death, Princess Diana agreed to a television interview with Martin Bashir from Panorama, the BBC's flagship current affairs program. Call me Diana: Our columnist David Thomas reveals her new life and look. Her hairline was back above her ears. In order to be able to go bare-legged when she is wearing a dress, for example, she has had to have extensive body-hair removal. Those who cant are portrayed as terrifying, big, hairy, Desperate-Dan-in-a-frock trannies when the truth is theyre just poor. I am going to finish in an accident helicopter, plane or car crash. has previously revealed how upset she was by JK Rowlings tweet, her 86-year old ex-diplomat father in particular, In her own words: Diana's transgender story so far, My transgender diary:'It's finally time to sayfarewell to David'. Honestly, it's not that hard. "She said to me, 'I didn't know how many enemies I had. "[Diana] was taken from the car, and she was conscious when they took her out," he says. I spent most of my childhood at all-boys' schools. Gays are to straights as California is to Arkansas.. Using a laser inserted into my abdomen via a catheter in my urethra, the surgeon blasted away two-thirds of my grossly oversized prostate gland. David went on to become a prolific award-winning journalist and editor of Punch, settling down to married life with two daughters and a son. Only a racist. I came out to my father about six years ago and he was just so sweet. Ironically, its often the ones who regard themselves as liberal that are the most hurtful and condescending. For men, the opposite is true. Others are quite happy going some of the way, stopping and thinking: 'Yes, this is far enough.'. Certainly, my surgeon seemed satisfied when he saw me a day later. "[Bashir] was talking about did she realize, you know, she is surrounded by people who are betraying her?" Expert investigation reveals the truth about Princess Diana's death 25 years ago | CBC Documentaries Loaded. ', Vaping is endemic in British schools and Elf Bar is at the heart of it, Three easy ways to make a healthy Coronation picnic, School seems optional now and our children are abandoned to social media, Our love of American food is making us sick and sad heres why, I had unexplained infertility at the age of 30, Your loaf of bread might be the unhealthiest thing in your kitchen, scars from her facial surgery in November, is the realisation of a dream that is all the more fulfilling, the shoulder-length brunette bob she boasts today. Join Facebook to connect with Diane Thomas and others you may know. And I said to him, Dad, I was walking round the house covered in make-up the whole time. Diana Thomas Automating, accelerating, and scaling third party security risk management programs. He could have been excused for mourning the loss of his only son. Diana is still enforcing her transphobia on other trans folk. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. But then my experience of transitioning has been much more joyous so far than I expected. In 2019, Thomas began writing a column in the Daily Telegraph - A New Woman - about transitioning to become a woman, Diana Thomas. Some of us cross right to the other side. . In 1989, she became the youngest ever editor of Punch magazine, a role she kept for three years. Caught in the crossfire of the pro and anti-trans lobbies are endless public institutions, so terrified of defying the latest woke diktats that they have entirely lost the faintest vestige of common sense. In 1987, she received the Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi Foundation Scholarship and the Ellis Haller Award for Outstanding Achievement in Journalism.[10]. Feb 10, 2021 . Just before lockdown, mutual friends invited me to a small dinner party to celebrate Dianas first outing as a woman. Now she is true to who I am, which makes her calmer and happier. Published: 18:54 EDT, 19 February 2021 | Updated: 20:44 EDT, 19 February 2021. . Same as everyone else. The findings of the forensic team, along with all the other evidence gathered, may finally answer the remaining questions surrounding Diana's death. Using it to hold oneself up as being superior to others is something else. It's not that we don't believe in the idea of male or female: it's that our personal experience tells us gender is neither so simple, nor so absolute, as a question of X and Y chromosomes. West Wittering before she began her transgender journey, DIANA IN 2020: 'I think that ultimately I would make somebody a really good wife put a pinny round my neck and let me be a homemaker, please! And that is what people have been to me. Explore Diana Brooks's 295 photos on Flickr! I would have hoped the press would have got beyond such stories. Diana uses the analogy of immigration to explain transition. All rights reserved. I didnt change my initials because I wanted people to know that I was still the same person in practical terms. And actually I think that ultimately I would make somebody a really good wife. There are things in my life that are really distressing to me, but I am consciously making myself focus on the positive, she says a little curtly at one point. There is a lot of nurturing in me that has gone to waste and there is a lot of love that is not being used up, she says in such a heartfelt way that I find myself tempted to give her a great big woman-to-woman hug. This week Diana meets up with old friends and wonders what they will make of the new Diana By Diana Thomas 1 Oct 2020, 11:00am My transgender diary: 'I need surgery to lose my male vocal cords' The screen for King Charles' coronation anointing is revealed, Devastating tornado picks up car and hurls it through air in Florida, Ukraine drone strike hits major fuel depot in port Sevastopol, Women's rights activists and pro-trans campaigners separated, Historic chairs to be reused by the King for the coronation service, Hundreds of Household Division members rehearse for coronation, Russian freight train derails and bursts into flames after explosion, 'You motherf***ers don't understand': Bam Margera details 'turmoil', Moment large saltwater crocodile snatches pet dog off beach in QLD, Doctor slams Laurence Fox for 'spewing out biased views', Monstrous tornado seen bearing down on Palm Beach, Braverman: People crossing Channel are 'at odds with British values'. Needless to say, it has been a tough couple of years, not least with her family, a subject she will never discuss publicly, apart from her father: He never once expressed a feeling that Id disappointed him as his only son. The facial surgery, for example, hasnt left her with that alien look it sometimes does, but it was extensive, and the shoulder-length brunette bob she boasts today involved an initial process of hair weaving and extensions that requires regular upkeep at a specialist salon. Anyone can do it, if they try. In this, a man enters hospital for a minor surgery, but accidentally receives the sex reassignment surgery that was intended for another patient. A groundbreaking new documentary examines her final years and what really led to the accident that night in a Paris tunnel. And did those columnists not have a point? Yes, its lovely, and its also perfectly normal. I didnt want to be a Davina or a Dora and I am absolutely not a Daisy, so its Diana, which has five letters like David, she says as she changes outfits, pushing her feet into a pair of embroidered slippers that are, she declares with a selfdeprecating smile, a little too large for her size 10 feet. Gender variant children are not ill, and do not desist. David went on to become a prolific award-winning journalist and editor of Punch, settling down to married life with two daughters and a son. They did not use some contorted form of language to pretend that medical reality was anything other than it actually is. And just as it is racist to deny the British identity of a fellow citizen simply because they are an immigrant, so it would be transphobic to deny my legally female gender just because I was never a little girl. But it illustrates two typical processes in society's treatment of men. She will have genital surgery as soon as she can. But here's the thing. This is my true self.. I love creating a beautiful home, nothing makes me happier except possibly cooking a lovely meal or going shopping. Diana wants a new rule- greater acceptance for those who show they are trying. Dana Thomas (born February 3, 1964 in Washington, D.C.) is a fashion and culture journalist and author based in Paris. She served as a contributing editor for T: The New York Times Style Magazine from 2012 to 2017 and WSJ., the Wall Street Journal's monthly style magazine, from 2011-2012; as the European editor of Conde Nast Portfolio from 2008 to 2009; and as European cultural and fashion correspondent for Newsweek in Paris from 1995 to 2008. Diana Thomas before her transition, as Dave Thomas. Farm Heroes Saga, the #4 Game on iTunes. I lead Diana through a side entrance via the kitchens to the eerily empty bar, chatting about lockdown as we go: Though I lost my wonderful father to Covid earlier this year, I know more people who know a trans person than someone whos died from Coronavirus was it really worth closing down a country for?. Its encouraging people to feel hostile and even violent towards us., For all the problems trans people face, Dianas view remains positive. Seconds later, though, that other Diana is back the sharp, sassy, witty one who owes quite a lot to her former self and is determined to amuse, bemuse and entertain us all as we follow her on her journey. She also writes regularly for Architectural Digest and Elle Decor. Because, bless them, they came in and said, Hi,Diana, and kissed me on both cheeks in exactly the way they did to the other women around the table. Diana is enormously encouraged by the way in which her friends and her 86-year old ex-diplomat father in particular have accepted and supported her in a manner that she says has reinforced her belief that most people are kind and good. As Bowies Life on Mars ends and the next song begins his 1974 anthem Rebel Rebel a mischievous expression crosses her newly lifted face. She writes of her delight at a few words exchanged with other walkers in the country, which she thinks indicate her being treated as a woman. Why does she say trans militants are stoking intolerance? for three years, David Thomas back on the beach at What is oppressive about that?, It is Dianas belief that trannies (a description of herself that she uses a lot) can bring something extra to womanhood. The correct term is now 'chestfeeding'. [12], As Diana Thomas, she has written in her defence that transitioning could be considered analogous to immigration: If someone born in India comes to Britain legally, passes the citizenship test and gets a UK passport, who dares say, Youre not British? Some of the faff , she concedes, has been both painful and costly. Diana Thomas (formerly David Thomas; born 17 January 1959), better known by the pen name Tom Cain,[2][3] is an English journalist and author of a series of thriller novels about protagonist Samuel Carver. Perhaps our response is a sort of metaphor for the limitations that are placed upon male behavior as a whole. Touch wood, the procedure went well. She was educated at Eton College[5]. In Diana: The Ultimate Truth, former detective and award-winning investigative journalist Mark Williams-Thomas examines theories that have emerged since Diana's passing and sets out to. In the reasons why transvestism should be feared by the many, and desired by the few, lie many of masculinity's most delicate hidden secretssecrets that relate to all men, even if they've never, in their wildest nightmares, dreamed of wearing a dress.. If someone born in India comes to Britain legally, passes the citizenship test and gets a UK passport, who dares say, Youre not British? Close friends of Diana tell of how she always thought she would die young, either in a plane, helicopter or car crash. That's short for 'Holmium Laser Enucleation of the Prostate'. office at satirical And the thing about me is that although the name on my driving licence, tax return and NHS record is Diana Thomas, I was born male. Facebook gives people the power to. "Blood samples were taken immediately at the time of the accident and also during the autopsy," says Monteil, who reveals that those samples indicated Paul indeed had alcohol, as well as antidepressants, in his system. "She had the premonition she would be killed or die not in a natural way," says Devorik in the documentary. Being true to who I am has made me a calmer, happier person, and much easier to be around. You've got no idea", "My transgender diary: 'I don't want to be famous for being trans', "Conversations At Scarfes Bar: Diana Thomas | Interviews", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Diana_Thomas_(writer)&oldid=1148174702, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from April 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 4 April 2023, at 14:25. Jane Gordon. "He wasn't drunk, that's for sure, but he had consumed alcohol.". Diana Thomas is a privileged trans woman, even though that's normally a contradiction in terms. I mean look at me long legs, brand-new breasts, knows the offside rule and the LBW rule, and can tell a googly from a flipper and if you want to watch endless documentaries about World War II be my guest! Play it now! This byline is mine, but I want my name removed. And I also wish people could stop fighting and striking poses and simply behave like human beings. I had seen David several times during his transition and wed chatted about facial hair and breasts, but nothing prepared me for how moved I felt when I watched the elegant woman come tripping along the pavement with a dainty, ladylike step.