Home from the war, a woman
Sam Taylor kept her transgendered identity a secret while serving in Iraq.

BY TAMMY GRUBB, Correspondent
CHAPEL HILL - First of two parts

http://www.chapelhillnews.com/2012/03/07/70493/home-from-the-war-a-woman.html

Sam Taylor wants to live "honestly and happily with the world" and, at 26, is just starting the journey to a career and family.

The Stanly County native joined the Army in 2003 to pay for college and, in 2007, completed a religious studies major and creative writing minor from UNC.

Two years later, Taylor left family in Chapel Hill for deployment in southern Iraq with the 34th Infantry Division.

[...]

Taylor remembers one soldier who came in upset about an Armed Forces News story on a transgender woman. As the soldier sat crying, he said if there was any justice, "she-males" would be rounded up and killed, Taylor said.

"We had some very serious talks about how these probably weren't the people he was actually angry with, and I reminded him that we're all children of God," Taylor said. "He trusted me; he wanted to hear what I had to say ... (and) we got to talk about what was actually wrong."

No one knew how deeply that conversation touched Taylor - a closeted transgender woman.

Sam Taylor kept her birth name.

Transgender ex-soldier finds a 'far greater sense of peace'
Sam Taylor now lives openly as a woman.

By Tammy Grubb, Correspondent

http://www.chapelhillnews.com/2012/03/10/70545/transgender-ex-soldier-finds-a.html

CHAPEL HILL - Second of two parts

On the road from rural North Carolina to the Boston suburbs, Sam Taylor has worn the shoes of a native son, student, soldier, and now, a young woman and religious leader.

"In some ways, I don't see it as much of a change [but] as a continuation," said Taylor, who is a transgender woman.

That's not to say the road has been easy.