Britain’s Got Talent finalist Gabz proudly comes out as trans after ‘exciting’ milestone’
(Ashley Gray @ashgraysongs)
Britain’s Got Talent finalist and singer-songwriter Gabz has come out as trans and changed his pronouns to he/him.
Gabz, 23, first came into the public eye as a contestant on Britain’s Got Talent in 2013. His self-written songs captured the hearts of viewers, with his musical talent landing him a spot in the final.
On 25 May, the musician told his 110,000 TikTok followers that he had “some exciting news”.
“If you didn’t know, I’m trans,” he said. “I’ve been waiting on the gender clinic waiting list for the NHS for quite a while so I decided to go private.”
@ashgraysongs lil update ?❤️ #transftm
After making this decision, however, Gabz was given a first appointment at a newly-opened NHS pilot gender identity clinic.
“It went really well,” he said .”I mean I just cried the whole time, but it went really well, which means I’m going to be able to change the name on my passport and my gender mark on my passport”.
Gabz confirmed that he has changed his official name to Ashley Gray but continue to use his stage name.
He also noted the difficulties of accessing gender-affirming healthcare, saying: “I feel like a lot of the waiting around for the stuff is money problems.
“It’s so expensive, so going through the NHS is free. I feel like I’m going to have updates soon on when I can start T [testosterone].”
Waiting times for a first appointment at an NHS gender clinic can be as long as three to five years.
The NHS has a statutory requirement that at least 92 per cent of patients using the healthcare service should have a referral-to-treatment time of less than 18 weeks, and is facing a judicial review over its wait times for gender-affirming care.
Followers congratulated Gray for proudly sharing his gender identity, as the singer thanked fans “for the love”.
Gray came out as non-binary last year in a heartfelt Instagram post, saying: “I’ve decided being nonbinary is no longer going to be a burden or hold me back or keep me hiding.”
He added: “Hopefully in the future loads of kids like me won’t have to grow up so confused”.
Following his time on the show, his debut single “Lighters (The One)” rose to number six on the UK Singles Chart. His most recent EP, Self Destruct, was released in 2020.
