Boxer forced to move house after revealing gender reassignment
A boxer who revealed his plans for gender reassignment has said he has been forced to move house after losing all his friends and suffering abuse.
Rob Newbiggin, 44, was born intersex but is not yet living as a woman.
He told the Southport Visiter that since revealing his plans to The Sun, he has been verbally abused in Southport and will now have to relocate his family.
Newbiggin told the newspaper: “At the end of it [gender reassignment] I’ll be the woman I want to be and I’ll have done a lot of good, but it will be a huge sacrifice because I’m going to have to leave.
“I can’t stay here now – I thought that people would be more supportive, like my wife Emma, but I was wrong.”
He and his wife have been married for three years. He said she “always had her suspicions” he wanted to become physically female and will continue to support him.
He is preparing for his last bout in the ring as man in August, but will then begin transitioning to become Mercedes.
He has decided not to let his three children see him as Mercedes during his transition and is planning to gradually introduce them to him as a woman once his treatment is complete.
Newbiggin is hoping to gain a licence to box as a woman. He also plans to do some modelling work.
