Transgender Veterans Fight for Military Paperwork to Match New Gender

[Shana A]

Transgender Veterans Fight for Military Paperwork to Match New Gender
Nov. 11, 2013
By SUSAN DONALDSON JAMES
via Good Morning America

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/transgender-veterans-fight-military-paperwork-match-gender/story?id=20833096

Paula M. Neira thrived in the U.S. Navy for six years, serving at home and at sea in mine warfare combat during Operation Desert Storm, culling numerous awards.

After leaving the military in 1991, she went to law school and then went on to become a registered nurse and educator at a major hospital in Maryland.

But Neira is transgender, and during those years of decorated service she was known as Paul, and all her military records reflect that name.

Today she lives openly as female, but her name and physical appearance don't match her discharge paperwork, or what the U.S. Department of Defense calls the DD-214.

That paperwork is used to obtain employment preferences, as well as medical, dependent, funeral and other veterans' benefits.

"It opens you up to abject discrimination," said Neira. After giving up her naval career and transitioning to a woman, she had two job offers rescinded from potential employers who learned about her gender change.

[justpat]

  As a veteran I say THANK YOU.  Pat

[tgchar21]

The logic behind the VA not allowing changes to a DD-214 is similar to why some schools don't want to change your records - because they consider it an "historical document" that was accurate at the time of discharge/graduation/withdraw/etc. While that obviously puts an undue impact on transpeople, said institutions could also run into legal trouble if they allowed ONLY transpeople to update the record due to a change of name (if a cisgender person with some other type of legal name change, especially if they have reasons of avoiding discrimination for doing so, tried to challenge it). A good compromise would be to allow a name change on the record only if it's a type of name change that would typically result in a new/amended birth certificate or naturalization; at this time I think all 50 states allow a NAME (but not necessarily SEX) change on a birth certificate, but if any states were to disallow such if under federal rules (for birth certificates in DC/citizens at birth born abroad) the name could be changed that would qualify. This would keep the registrars from being overwhelmed with people getting married or divorced wanting to change their records (which IMO is what they're concerned about), but allows the record to be updated in the more important cases (e.g. transpeople, adult adoptees, those adopting a name more mainstream-American to reduce discrimination such as this case, etc.).