The first ever serving police officer to transition has looked back on his career with Merseyside Police in an interview with the ECHO.
Christian Owens worked for Merseyside Police for 27 years before recently retiring from his role as a Detective Sergeant.
Now, the 50-year-old uses his own personal journey as a trans man to speak to individuals and organisations with the hope of leaving them with a greater understanding of a trans person’s journey.
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Christian started questioning his sexuality and gender when he was just a child growing up in Runcorn.
Born into a Catholic family, Christian attended a religious school and was heavily involved with church, which left him feeling unrepresented within his own community.
He told the ECHO : “That was my first barrier to overcome, living somewhere that was quite isolated with support and representation.
“But then, I heard Small Town Boy by Bronski Beat and it inspired me to think that I needed to venture out and get on a train and go somewhere else."
When Christian just started sixth form, he walked to a red telephone kiosk and rang the LGBT+ switchboard, a one-stop listening service still active today.
From them, he found out where he could go to meet others like himself and ended up at a youth group in Back Colquitt Street.
At the time Christian didn’t know his way around Liverpool but was determined with some directions he had written down on paper to get there.
He explained: “It was the year of Section 28 so it was quite a significant time for me. It was 1988 and there was a lot of pressure in school where teachers wouldn’t teach or even talk about anything to do with LGBT+.
“So for me it was just a time of isolation. I used to go home, I couldn’t talk anywhere there, I used to go to school and there was nobody there I could speak with. I just felt very alone and knew I needed to venture to Liverpool.”
It was Liverpool where Christian met his first group of friends who came from the same community as him.
He added: “I do remember at the time that I never really found any other trans identities that were obvious to me or people who were disclosing it.
“There probably were trans people who just weren’t out, but I never found the visibility I was looking for as someone who was definitely wanting to identify as male. But I did find a support network and I did find a community.”
Christian joined the police in 1994 when he was 23, which was before he transitioned.
Before starting, Christian spent some time questioning if he should start the role being open about his identity, or keep it to himself.
He elaborated: “Now, looking back, I describe it as my lost and hidden years when I first joined. I didn’t feel like I could be out or share anything about my private life. That’s how I lived my life in the police.
“I tried to conform and tried to fit in and the best way to do that was pretend to be heterosexual. Gender identity for me, at that time, was completely blocked out."
Christian even considered a different career pathway but after sticking it out, he eventually plucked up the courage to come out as a trans man to a friend when he was 38-years-old.
What came next was revolutionary for the trans community across the country as Christian became the first serving police officer to transition and began making headway with a transgender policy which never existed beforehand.
Christian, alongside HR, put a process in place to wipe all details of his previous identity from the police force.
Explaining that it didn’t come without its own challenges, he added: “I knew it was always going to be difficult, but I am grateful for how open and honest the police were. They didn’t pretend to know what they were doing, so it was just a steep learning curve for everybody.
“My first day as Christian was at the headquarters in the city centre. It was a really scary scary day but obviously the best day of my life.
“But there was still a lot of difficulty for me to overcome, things that people don’t even think about like time off for medical appointments and surgery, the systems weren’t adequate to deal with it.
“Also language, people didn’t know how to talk to me so consequently people just didn’t talk to me, I became very isolated and it was a lonely time for the first years. I felt I had lost a little part of me and lost some of my reputation and respect I had before.”
Christian began to use his voice as a trans man to help the police force be more inclusive by publicly speaking.
He told the ECHO : ”I would go to community events and speak about my journey and I just saw the impact it had on young people and it just empowered me so much.
"It was so amazing, I could see them thinking ‘he’s like me’. It inspired me to continue in the line of work of motivational speaking.
“I started to run Continuing Professional Development internally and tackle the lack of trans awareness within policing.
"I started to do that to educate staff because I thought if no else is going to, I will and at least I’ve got the experience to do it. I did nationally as well and I could finally start to see the progress we were making."
Christian said his confidence grew over time and he said the police force developed a transgender policy and a trans community advisory group.
After 27 years, Christian recently retired from his Detective Sergeant role and now is focused on using his own personal journey of self-discovery to enlighten and inspire others.
Through his own company, GenderSpace, Christian helps audiences to gain a greater understanding of a trans person’s journey by talking openly about the social, legal and medical aspect of transitioning.
Christian has made a huge impact locally, with his frequent visits to schools around Merseyside including Rainford High School, St. Helen’s, Holy Family Catholic High School, Thornton and Maricourt Catholic High School, Maghull.
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