Transgender Lutheran vicar wants to continue his pastoral work
Imatra vicar pondered gender identity for decades
http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Transgender+Lutheran+vicar+wants+to+continue+his+pastoral+work/1135241026162 (http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Transgender+Lutheran+vicar+wants+to+continue+his+pastoral+work/1135241026162)
Olli Aalto, the Lutheran Vicar of Imatra, says that he has struggled with his gender identity for almost all of his 54 years.
The struggle is now coming to an end. Aalto will take a leave of absence at the beginning of 2009, during which time he will undergo surgery and other procedures to become a woman.
Aalto says that the matter has been a cause for concern "ever since I was a little girl".
"I was three years old when I asked why I didn't have a skirt, when all the other girls did", he says.