University of Manitoba: Kael McKenzie-Warrior of Change

Smiling Kael McKenzie [BA/03, LLB/06] is doing his best to describe his wedding dress from 10 years ago.

“Oh gosh… It had a long train, it was kind of off the neck…”

In his conservative grey suit, McKenzie stops mid-thought and grimaces like something just turned his stomach.

“I don’t even like to think about it,” the 44-year-old father of two says before his baritone laugh fills the rec room of his suburban Winnipeg home. “Don’t ask me!”

And then he blurts out: “I wore a tiara.” And again, laughter.

There are no photos of McKenzie from before his gender transition on display in the house he shares with his wife and teenage sons. Canada’s first openly transgender judge, who was born a female and five years ago underwent hormone replacement therapy and gender reassignment surgery to become a male, says he figured it was time to take the old photos down when his young niece pointed at one and asked: Who’s that?

Today, McKenzie says he knows exactly who he is—but it took nearly four decades to get here.

Along with a new gender, he gave himself a new name.

At 39, he was online searching baby names, looking for one that started with K (to match his wife, Kristine) and one that had Gaelic origins (which he’s always kind of fancied). “I tell everyone Kael means Warrior of Change. I may or may not have made that up,” he jokes.

The change he speaks of has brought a lot of firsts. The first time his kids called him Dad. (“It was magical.”) The first time a waitress snarled at him when he ordered before his wife. (“I had no idea what just happened.”)

The first time a sales clerk touched his chest and tugged on his belt while sizing a suit. (“They don’t do that at women’s clothing stores.”)

McKenzie won’t reveal the identity he used as a woman, both a different first and last name. “I don’t share it with anybody. It’s not me anymore. It’s not relevant to my life anymore. It was just a name that was convenient to me because that’s what my parents gave me.”

From: http://news.umanitoba.ca/warrior-of-change/