Seal Team 6 Soldier Comes Out as Transgender.

[Robert_S]

Think you know what a real man is? A strong, macho, GI Joe kind of all-American m-a-n man? Certainly they are in all the places and professions you’d imagine – tinker, tailor, soldier, spy – but let’s look for a moment at the “soldier” assignation. Nothing could be more macho than a soldier and no soldier could be more vaunted, respected or fitting of the stereotype of MAN than a special ops Navy SEAL soldier. This story is about one such soldier: a 20-year veteran who was a member of the elite SEAL Team 6 (the same one that took out Osama bin Laden), who came out as transgender and began the transition in 2011 to evolve from male to female, from Chris Beck to, now, Kristen Beck.

While this gender transition can be fraught with emotional and societal challenges for anyone in any field, for a soldier, one of the most entrenched categories of the male identity, the conflict of dealing with sexual identity issues while bound by both culture and policy were particularly excruciating. Though the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell ended official discrimination against gays and lesbians in the military, it did not end the ban on transgender soldiers, which means transgender men or women are at risk of discharge if their orientation is discovered. For Beck, that meant hiding not only the external trappings of her femininity (panty hose were tucked way back in the drawer), but keeping any indication of her true gender status from public view. And as a soldier, that meant maintaining a look and performance that was in keeping with the “macho” soldier she was.

Read more: http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/06/03 ... z2VEIEnk6f

[Cormac]

Good for her.

[Robert_S]

I imagine there are bigots the world over just shitting themselves right now.

[Svartalf]

That's a lady you won't want to mess with.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Sailor, not soldier.

[Audley Strange]

You know I see shit like this and understand why some minority groups and women get pissed off at men. "Oh look didn't they do well, almost just as good as a man." It's like because someone has different genitals or skin colour or self-image then suddenly we treat them like their the disabled or they're pets. These articles and news reoprts always smack to me as being the same in they way they are reported as "parrot shoots robber and dials 999" as if there was some physical and mental limitation. I noticed this with Tiger Woods when he first emerged and every time a woman seemingly does anything except dishes and shopping it's seen as some kind of empowering triumph.

It's not a celebration, it's a constant suggestion that the world thinks you are somehow sub-human and it's terrible, because I think it a media invention which patronises while it panders for money. To most people I know anywhere, I think the reactions would range from "so?" to "good on him, her oh fuck it who cares?"

ALL CHANGE!

I is social justice warrior now.