One of the UK’s first transgender police officers has told of her brave battle against trolls, likening the experience to “swimming through a sea of hate”.
PC Skye Morden, who kept the secret for decades, found the courage to come out to her family and friends after 19 years in the force.
PC Morden, 46, came out as transgender after separating from her wife for unrelated reasons four years ago.
She said she always knew the male gender she was assigned at birth was wrong.
PC Morden has faced transphobic abuse from online trolls since coming out but says her policing colleagues have been supportive and helped her weather the storm.
In a video to mark her second anniversary since coming out to colleagues, she said: “Sometimes I do feel like I’m swimming through a sea of hate.
“When I came out and received an absolute avalanche of hate and abuse, I reached out to the police LGBTQ network and I found a family.
“They have given me strength, courage and friendship, they’ve offered me support when I felt low and it’s something that I really cherish.”
Despite the huge hurdles PC Morden has faced since coming out, she insists she has the “best job in the world”.
She added: “There is no other job like the police.
“It’s without doubt the best in the world, but it’s also hard.
“There are some days where you think the world is against you but you sit back and you think that day I saved a life, that day I did something that was frightening, unbelievable, scary.
“But do you know what, it made a difference to somebody vulnerable, somebody who needed somebody there for them. I made a difference that day.”
PC Morden joined West Midlands Police in 2001 and was one of the first officers in the force to be trained with an X26 Taser.
She has since led a heroic career on the frontline, running towards violent incidents to keep the public safe and training colleagues how to use tasers safely.
She is currently a taser trainer at the Midlands Region Tactical Training centre in Albrighton.
On coming out, she said: “Growing up, I pretended to be someone I wasn’t and I hid myself away.
“As time progressed, I started to look into what gender identity was and that the science was there and actually I’m not mad, I am trans.”
PC Morden is now working to help other transgender officers feel comfortable and accepted at work.
She is on the Force’s LGBQT committee and is working with the West Midlands Police Federation on practical ways to help trans members.
In a message to colleagues, she added: “It’s important that I show my colleagues that trans people, we’re just simply human.
“I need to be visible so that the trans community can see that the police are the trans community, that we are the public and the public are the police and as Robert Peel wanted, they have a representation, they have somebody that is doing their best to try to make that cultural change.”
