Career
Burns was born in the London Borough of Redbridge and attended the University of Manchester, earning first-class honours in computer science in 1975 and a master's degree in 1977. During her time as a city IT consultant and a Tory activist, she chose not reveal her trans history to colleagues. In 1995, Burns came out to local Tory leadership in order to campaign more openly. The British tabloids, however, chose to ignore her as she was "too ordinary". Remembering this era, she jokes about her changing perception of herself as a trans activist: "I realised something had changed in 1997, when I realised it was more embarrassing to admit to being a conservative than to being a trans woman."
Read more about this topic: Christine Burns
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