(Just a few self-photos from Beth's public Flickr stream; all pics are work-safe. This is an extremely cool hacking article, btw, regardless of the author's gender history.)
Nothing to do with loyalty. I just legitimately don't see how one gets from that name change to deciding there must have been a sex change. Knowing that the conclusion was correct doesn't help with that, but it's still good to know, so thanks!
You wouldn't go from a predominantly male first name to a typically female middle name as your preferred moniker without experiencing some sort of change.
A sex change is hardly the only explanation, but it's a very likely one. Be honest. Let's say my name is John Leslie Roberts and for my entire life up until 2010 I was referred to as John, then I told you to start calling me Leslie from now on. I seriously doubt you would just shrug that off.
If you're wondering how others drew the correct conclusion without additional information, this is how. It's extremely common for those who have had male to female sex change to choose a female root name buried within their current name or names. It's extremely uncommon to do that for any other reason. People associate names, gender and personal identity very closely.
You change one so drastically, there is a good chance you've changed the others too. There is a lot more to that sentence than just a name change.
If it was a marriage that caused the name change, she would have just said that point-blank. No need to dance around it. From the lack of explanation it was pretty clear that it was a sex change.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/micahdowty/5150806818/in/photos... http://www.flickr.com/photos/micahdowty/4698425505/in/photos... http://www.flickr.com/photos/micahdowty/4371698700/in/photos...
(Just a few self-photos from Beth's public Flickr stream; all pics are work-safe. This is an extremely cool hacking article, btw, regardless of the author's gender history.)