John Thorp, a transgender writer and research scientist has been named the victim of the train accident that occurred near Morrinsville on March 23rd.
The NZ Herald reported that the 90-year-old man was travelling to Thames from the Waikato Hospital when his car collided with an on-coming train. His wife, Hazel, was also in the car during the accident but is in a stable condition at Waikato Hospital.
Thorp is well-known in the transgender community for his book, A Change for Good, published in 2006 by Cape Catley Publishers. The book documents his journey as he transitioned from female to male during the early days of his gender reassignment surgery. Jenny Cole, a spokeswoman for Cape Catley says “When Chris Cole Catley chose to publish this, she saw it was a story of importance for people to know. A story of importance about society.”