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In March, Hannah Winterbourne entered Chelsea Register Office in a strapless lace-covered dress, clutching a bouquet of pink, white and blue flowers.

She left holding the hand of her new husband Jake.

The pair have huge beaming smiles, as any bride and groom would. But for Hannah and Jake, who are both transgender, the day was incredibly poignant.

Her first date with Jake was her first ever date and she had dreamed but never thought she would get married.

(Image: © Paul Grace)

Hannah (now Graf), 31, is a captain with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers and is the highest-ranking transgender soldier in the British army. Her husband is a writer, director and actor who starred in the Danish Girl alongside Eddie Redmayne.

The pair met while doing public events for transgender advocacy.

In a very 21st Century romance, they became Facebook friends, sharing messages about their interests and “flirting quite badly”, Hannah says, before deciding to meet up.

They spoke on the phone before arranging to meet up on December 30, 2015, for their first date. The couple met at 2pm but didn’t go home until 1am, and changed their New Year’s Eve plans to have a second date the following day.

Hannah, who is originally from Cardiff, said she was “terrified” of the first date.

(Image: © Paul Grace)

“I had never been on a date before but, by the end of 2014, I was at a point in my transition where I thought I wanted to share my life with someone else.

“Before that, I was so unhappy in my body and intimidated. It was the first time in my life I thought I should put myself out there.

“Jake is very attractive and charming but also transgender which took a lot of the pressure off. I didn’t have to deal with how he would feel, how or when to tell him or his parents.

“It just grew from there,” she said. “We just really clicked, got on and had a fun time.

“We had separate plans for New Year’s Eve but we both changed them to have a second date.”

Who is Hannah Graf? Hannah, 31, is a Captain with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. Born in Cardiff, in 2013 Hannah came out as a transgender woman and became the highest ranking transgender soldier within the British Army. It was returning from a tour of Afghanistan when she decided to contact a gender specialist. She said she had spent 25 years being "deeply unhappy" in her body and after living in such a male environment, "enough was enough". As part of the Army LGBT Forum, she became the Army's Transgender Representative where she has responsibility to advise Senior Army commanders on transgender policy, educate the wider Defence and mentoring and supporting transgender soldiers in the Army. Hannah is an Ambassador for LGBT Sport Cymru (Wales), promoting transgender inclusion in sports across Wales and a patron of Mermaids UK, a charity to reduce isolation and loneliness for gender variant and transgender children, young people and their families. She continues to speak out about her transition to give strength to others.

She was working away from London so they tried to meet up at weekends.

It was on a holiday to New York in September 2017 that Jake proposed.

“I wasn’t entirely surprised. Jake had said to me quite early in the relationship that he wanted to get married and to have kids and I needed to be on board with that idea.

“So I wasn’t surprised and in the run up he had joked that if he did propose, would I say yes.”

It was on a boat in Central Park that Jake asked Hannah. They’d hired the boat for 30 minutes, but it took Jake a little longer to propose – so they overran their slot by another hour.

“He told me he had an important question and I knew at that moment and just burst into tears.

“It was very, very, romantic”, she says. “It was something that I had idealised and thought would be nice, especially as my friends started getting married. But I genuinely never thought it would happen for me.

“I presumed I would never find love and no-one would ever love me,” she says.

“It’s why we try to speak out about our relationship. I thought I couldn’t have love or have a family and it’s quite sad that I thought like that.

“We’re trying to show other people, including transgender people, that just because you’re different, you’re not unloveable.

“Everyone is entitled to love and fulfilled love.”

When they were arranging their wedding they knew there was media interest and decided to run the story with the Sun.

“We knew we could put something out with a paper like the Guardian which would be nice and lovely, but the readership are people who don’t need to get that message.

“It was about getting to a broader audience not just transgender people but those who would have never read a positive story about a transgender couple or individual.

“That was the genus of going to The Sun”.

(Image: © Paul Grace)

They had approval of the copy and do not blame the journalist, but when the front page headline was ‘Tran and wife’ the pair felt betrayed, angry and upset.

“It was clumsy at best and offensive at worst,” Hannah said. “It used a derogatory term for Jake calling him ‘a tran’.

“With running it on the front page we thought there was a responsibility to the transgender community to do the story correctly.

“We felt we had no option but to call them out on it.

“We knew straight away it was wrong and we had to decide how best to tackle it. As much as we try to reach out to a new audience, we have a responsibility as transgender people with a voice. If we hadn’t called it out, we would have been approving it. It was such a shame because it’s otherwise a good story.

(Image: Getty)

“The situation of being transgender is something you’re born with. It’s not a choice, it’s just who you innately are.

“I have always identified as a woman, that was how I was born but I had male anatomy and I needed to change that to bring it in line with who I was.

“Physically, I had male anatomy but my brain has always been a female brain. Using that language intimates that I am a facsimile of a woman, I am a man who has had hormones. I just had the wrong anatomy.

“If you look and listen to me now, hopefully you see me as a woman and that I haven’t changed.

(Image: Darren Pepe)

“I have always been like this. The only difference is my appearance to the world. We say that gender isn’t about how you look or your body, but your innate sense of self.

“Jake and I are both very clear we don’t want people stepping on eggshells. If you say something wrong but it was said with the right intentions we won’t take offence, but we will explain why it was wrong.

Hannah said that they felt they had a duty as it felt like a public attack on an already-marginalised section of the community.

“Jake and I had a very positive transition and we try to tell it because there are lot of people who have very negative stories.

“Trans suicide rates for under-18s is one in two and a level of around 70% self harm.

“There are people being trolled and humiliated on a daily basis. There’s a real undercurrent of transphobia in this country. But we are just human beings getting on with our lives.

“We’re just like you. We go to work, we’re in love, want a family and that’s all we’re trying to do.

“To the people who would say ‘don’t worry about what they say’, if you’re already a targeted trans person, reading something negative like that could be hugely damaging.

“We couldn’t be party to that.”

Since they spoke out, they have had no backlash, but plenty of messages of support.

She said she wants it to continue to give people confidence they can ask questions without fear.

“We always have people coming up and asked about our story in lots of ways.

“If people want to come and ask a question we are quite accessible and we want people to encourage others in person or online when they messages us.

(Image: Darren Pepe)

“We’re not an unattainable media couple, it’s not what we’re trying to do.

“Come over, have a chat, a photo, whatever. As long as you’re asking a question in a respectful way, we’re fine.”

Being in the public can be draining, Hannah admits, but says it is worthwhile.

“When we chose to put ourselves out there we have a responsibility to people.

“Some people want all the fame and limelight but aren’t really into putting in the hard yards and engaging with people.

“That is the least we owe the community that has given us so much.”

When the Pinc List panel picked Hannah as their winner, it was because she didn’t shy away after a negative headline, but she has come out fighting and continued speaking out to help others.

(Image: Darren Pepe)

Her husband paid tribute to her.

“I am incredibly proud in all that she does. I think she’s an absolute inspiration and I’m very proud to be her husband.

“Since having met Hannah a few years ago, my life has just been made better. She is super supportive and the kindest person I have ever met.

“I think what she does to help people across the world is phenomenal and she, of course, deserves to be top of the Pinc List.

“She is a wonderful, wonderful woman who I am very lucky to be married to.”