Transgender veteran uses experience to reach out to others
MARA KLECKER, Daily Nebraskan, September 8, 2013

Scott Schneider's mom still calls him Megan. His dad quit talking to him for eight years.

After struggling with his identity for most of his life, Schneider... started going by Scott in 2007 and began the medical process of transitioning from a female to a male in 2008. Today, he's worked at UNL's LGBTQA resource center for a year and a half.

Educating people and changing public perception and misunderstandings is Schneider's mission. And as LGBT issues increasingly enter the public spotlight, both in the military and in the courts, it's a mission Schneider sees taking center stage.

Schneider... often goes three to four weeks without talking to his mother. When he does, the exchange is awkward. She refers to Scott with feminine pronouns. Schneider knows his mother is old-fashioned and private. He knows she worries about what others think of her and her family...

Schneider's shoulders are wide set; his square jaw accentuated by a dark beard. His strikingly light blue eyes squint when he laughs — a breathy chuckle that punctuates many of his blunt and sarcastic comments. At age 32, his hair is beginning to thin...