Transcript
Headline: Love-story strictly for cash
Byline: By Terry Kirby
Image Description:
The picture shows Cathy smiling at the camera, her hair short and dark and framing her face with bangs. She wears long dangly earrings. To her right is Chris, who has short hair and wears a collared shirt and jumper. He smiles with his wife. The caption reads: “Mr. Christopher Brown, formerly Miss Anne Johnson with Miss Cathy Brown (left) formerly Mr. Eugene Brown, outside their home, in Handsworth, Birmingham.”
Article Text:
The Birmingham sex change couple who are exchanging roles as mother and father, yesterday refused to talk about their life together — unless it was for money.
Mr. Christopher Brown, aged 30, formerly known as Miss Anne Johnson, lives in Grosvenor Road, Handsworth, Birmingham, with Miss Cathy Brown, aged 31, formerly Mr. Eugene Brown, who used to be a martial arts instructor.
The couple who have lived together for five years have a three-year-old daughter, Emma, and live in a two-bedroom flat above Miss Brown’s parents’ home.
The present Mr. Brown answered the door to reporters and photographers yesterday and made it clear that the couple would only tell their story for a price.
“We have said all there is to say. If someone has £50,000 to spare we might talk some more,” he said.
The couple had given an exclusive interview to a Sunday newspaper.
Mr. Brown, wearing a green pullover and corduroy jeans, added: “We just want to be left alone to live our life together. We have had enough harassment. I just don’t know what will happen in the future.”
The couple’s daughter was born to Miss Johnson before they began hormone treatment and extensive counseling.
Although the couple have completely changed their outward appearances, it is not clear whether they have both undergone full sex change operations.
Mr. Brown, who used to be a social worker, changed his name nine months ago after a course of treatment at a Birmingham hospital. Miss Brown is understood to have been treated at Charing Cross Hospital in London.
The couple met and began living together after Mr. Brown, then Miss Johnson, began attending martial arts classes run by Miss Brown, then Mr. Eugene Brown. They are now both unemployed and living on social security.
[End Article Clipping]
Kirby, Terry. “Love-Story Strictly for Cash.” Clipping. 1980. Digital Transgender Archive, https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/files/bc386j29t.
To learn more about the lives of Chris and Cathy Brown, find their memoir on our Books page.
Disclaimer: No copyright infringement is intended. These images have been made publicly available for educational purposes and may be taken down at the request of the copyright holder. All clippings are physically stored in The University of Ulster Trans-Gender Archives at University of Victoria, located in the unceded traditional territory of the Lekwungen and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples, also referred to as Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.