Documenting the courage of trans servicemembers
Thursday, February 9th, 2012
Commentary: Trans Progressive
by Autumn Sandeen
http://lgbtweekly.com/2012/02/09/documenting-the-courage-of-trans-servicemembers/I served in the U.S. Navy between 1980 and 2000, and am now a military retiree. At fourteen I figured out I was a transsexual, but I talked myself into believing I was just a crossdresser – so even though I knew I was trans when I entered the service, I didn't identify myself then as a transsexual.
By 1996 – four years before I was eligible to retire from the Navy – I knew that I was more than a crossdresser, but I still wasn't ready to identify myself as a transsexual. During the last two of those four years, between 1996 and 2000, I was sexually harassed by the combined efforts of a subordinate and my ship's executive officer. I still have the documentation where the Navy, in an inquiry, found that I was the victim of sexual harassment by male servicemembers because I was presumed to be gay.
I knowingly sacrificed my trans identity for the entire 20-years I was in the military; I knowingly sacrificed my need to address my gender identity concerns for the last four years of my service. Sacrificing my identity was really an unsustainable pursuit, as my sexual harassment experience showed me, and I'm absolutely amazed I made it through 20-years of service to retire.
