The Pentagon's Transgender Problem
New studies suggest that transgender civilians are twice as likely to enlist, and transgender veterans are 20 times as likely to commit suicide.
—By Adam Klasfeld and Brett Brownell
| Thu Aug. 15, 2013 3:05 AM PDT
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/08/transgender-troops-twice-likely-serve-twenty-times-likely-commit-suicideEver since she was a boy growing up in small-town Pennsylvania, Zoey Gearhart had "tendencies that were odd." Raised as Robert Gearhart, she would identify with female characters in books and on TV, in video games and movies. She would also wear her mother's fake nails, or make her own out of clay. "I was told to stop in no uncertain terms by my father," she said. In 2007, at the age of 19, she decided to join the Navy. "I thought maybe joining the military would just help straighten me out," she said. "Make me into a normal individual."
At first, Gearhart tried to prove her machismo by applying and becoming accepted into the Navy SEALs, the elite force that killed Osama bin Laden. "I used to be in incredible shape," she said. She did preliminary training with the SEALs, but after an ex-fiancee pleaded with her not to continue on to BUDS (Basic Underwater Demolition School) training, Gearhart decided to become a linguist instead. The first known transgender SEAL, Kristin Beck, first came out on her LinkedIn profile earlier this year and in her tell-all book, Warrior Princess. On the cover, she sports a long, bushy beard from the days she went by "Chris."
While in the Navy, Gearhart kept her female identity a secret, hiding it from a Marine staff sergeant roommate whom she described as a "cave-dwelling dude-bro." After her enlistment term expired in March, she decided not to reenlist so that she could begin her transition to womanhood in earnest. Had Beck or Gearhart revealed that they were trans while still in uniform, they would have received a medical or administrative discharge. Even after the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell in 2011, the military still officially forbids openly transgender people from serving. The end of DADT, Gearhart said, "is this landmark for the LGBT movement. But there's that hanging T. Trans service was not even addressed."
