![Dadtprotest02x560](https://www.advocate.com/media-library/dadtprotest02x560.jpg?id=32723917&width=1200&height=1242)
CONTACTStaffCAREER OPPORTUNITIESADVERTISE WITH USPRIVACY POLICYPRIVACY PREFERENCESTERMS OF USELEGAL NOTICE
© 2024 Pride Publishing Inc.
All Rights reserved
All Rights reserved
By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use.
How we identify ourselves matters. When I came out as a male-to-female transsexual seven years ago, I began by embracing a transgender identity and identifying myself as a part of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. I remember in my first months of being out in LGBT community being so clueless to how some LGB people thought trans people don't belong in LGBT community.
Trans people have been working for LGBT community issues since there has been an LGBT community. Shannon Minter, for example, has worked tirelessly for marriage equality for years, and Prof. Jillian Todd Weiss has focused like a laser beam on passing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act this past year. Still, some LGB people still believe trans people don't belong grouped together with them.
But I believe in the idea of the LGBT community. If just one subcommunity of our coalition of subcommunities finds an issue to be an important issue -- even if that particular issue doesn't directly affect my transgender sisters and brothers -- then that issue is my issue.
Repealing "don't ask, don't tell" (DADT) won't change anything for trans servicemembers. Even if DADT were repealed tomorrow, transgender Americans still wouldn't be able to serve openly .
But, the good neighbor looks beyond him, her, or hirself, discerning
those inner qualities that make all human beings human -- and therefore a
family. Repealing DADT may not help my trans siblings, but it helps my
brothers and sisters in the broader LGBT community.
So On April
20th, I joined with five of my fellow LGBT veterans, and handcuffed
myself to the White House gates.
As was expected, I suffered
more at the hands of law enforcement officials than others in our group
because I have not as yet had genital reconstruction surgery. When I was
under the authority of the U.S. Marshals at the Washington D.C.
Courthouse, I was housed with men while dressed in my women's dress blue
Navy Uniform. A National Park Service Police Officer referred to me an
"impersonator"; a U.S. Marshal referred to me as an "it" and a "shim."
I'm
a retired veteran as well -- I actively served for twenty years in the
U.S. Navy. As someone whom the government considers to be receiving
"lesser pay for lesser work," I'm still under the Uniform Code of
Military Justice. I still could be prosecuted in the military justice
system for violating regulations regarding protesting in uniform.
But I took one for the team. I chose to engage in direct action towards the repeal of DADT this year, fully aware of the potential consequences for doing so. I chose to engage in personal sacrifice for others in the broader LGBT community in the exact kind of way I would hope that others in the LGBT community would sacrifice on behalf of me.
In the words of Cesar Chavez: "We are confident. We have ourselves. We know how to sacrifice. We know how to work. We know how to combat the forces that oppose us. But even more than that, we are true believers in the whole idea of justice. Justice is so much on our side, that that is going to see us through."
I chose to be one of six veterans who took direct action at the White House because it's an undeniable injustice that DADT continues when the President has promised us its repeal.
And I don't choose to fight for LGBT community issues because this is about me, I choose to fight for LGBT community issues because this is about us. We are a community.
Want more breaking equality news & trending entertainment stories?
Check out our NEW 24/7 streaming service: the Advocate Channel!
Download the Advocate Channel App for your mobile phone and your favorite streaming device!
From our Sponsors
Most Popular
Meet all 37 of the queer women in this season's WNBA
April 17 2024 11:24 AM
Here are the 15 gayest travel destinations in the world: report
March 26 2024 9:23 AM
21+ steamy photos of Scotland’s finest gay men in Elska Glasgow
February 01 2024 10:07 PM
More Than 50 of Our Favorite LGBTQ+ Moms
May 12 2024 11:44 AM
Conjoined twins Lori Schappell and trans man George Schappell dead at 62
April 27 2024 6:13 PM
Latest Stories
Kamala Harris rides wave of Democratic energy at kickoff event in Wisconsin
July 23 2024 3:36 PM
'Devastated:' A six-week abortion ban will go into effect in Iowa next week
July 23 2024 2:28 PM
Four hours, 44,000 Black women, and one Zoom call
July 23 2024 2:17 PM
Record 1.2 million people show out for Cologne’s Pride parade
July 23 2024 10:51 AM
Here's how far-right activist Leonard Leo helped fund Bud Light boycott
July 23 2024 10:27 AM
Elon Musk’s comments about his trans daughter prove why she doesn’t speak to him
July 23 2024 9:16 AM
Nancy Pelosi endorses Kamala Harris for president
July 22 2024 4:07 PM
Charli XCX declares Kamala Harris IS brat & our next President's campaign agrees
July 22 2024 3:08 PM
Pete Buttigieg roasts JD Vance and his gay tech bro billionaire
July 22 2024 1:42 PM