April Ashley

April Ashley MBE 29 April 1935 27 December 2021 styled as The Honourable April Corbett from 1963 to 1980 was an English model author and LGBT rights activist In the 1950s upon being discharged from the Merchant Navy she performed under the stage name Toni April at Le Carrousel de Paris in Paris Ashley was outed as a transgender woman by The Sunday People newspaper in 1961 and was one of the earliest British people known to have had gender confirmation surgery Her first marriage to the future 3rd Baron Rowallan was annulled in the High Court of Justice case of Corbett v Corbett Ashley was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2012 Birthday Honours for services to transgender equality