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Former majorette Kay Browning is marching to a new tune after undergoing sex change treatment to become a man.

The 24-year-old grew up dancing in a parade band but always preferred tomboy activities like fixing cars.

Now, after years of trying to be a girl Kay, from Tiverton, Devon, has decided to undergo gender reassignment surgery.

Kay said: “I have four older brothers and my mum was apparently desperate for a daughter. We joke now that that wish backfired when she had me! I would chuck my Barbies under the bed unless they came with a Ken doll or a car."

At the age of 14, a conversation with a school teacher led Kay to realise that she wasn’t gay, but she was actually transgender, a man born in a woman’s body.

She said: “I was complaining to a teacher about being called a lesbian and she said to me, ‘Has it ever occurred to you that you might be heterosexual?’. My whole world just clicked. That’s when I really knew I’d been born in the wrong body.

“By then, I knew I fancied girls but the word ‘lesbian’ had never really fitted. In that moment, I knew I wasn’t a lesbian – I was a straight man in a female body.”

Kay’s parents accepted the revelation and allowed Kay to start living as a boy full-time. A year later she had her long red hair cut off and shaved her head.

At 16, Kay had her first relationship with a woman as a ‘man’ yet still endured taunts from cruel school bullies.

In April, Kay made the decision to start the physical transition to become a man and began hormone treatment, which has deepened her voice and caused hair to grow on her face.

She is now awaiting a consultation about having her A-cup breasts removed, but doesn’t plan to have full sex change surgery until she’s much older.