Whats In A Name Change?

I can not describe the trauma involved with being seated in a Doctor's waiting room, knowing full well someone is going to scream out my very male name. My recent Cyrsti's Condo post on the sudden military's reversal on changing gender markers on a transgender veteran's DD 214. gives me hope I won't have to much longer. As most of you know, I am a trans vet and under VA health care and suddenly the news leaked out the military had changed genders on  a few discharge forms.  Truthfully, I don't know for sure the steps I need to take to apply to get my 214 changed to stop the madness but I now know the light at the end of the tunnel is not the train! There is a chance!

My only real problem is that I am lazy, I have a very androgynous picture on my drivers license, all my friends and the greatest majority of the world pronouns me correctly-so gender markers are on one of my burners-somewhere.  As I have said though, since I am retired on Social Security, I don't have to worry about finding a job as a transgender woman-a huge deal with the wrong gender markers.

Now, I also received this comment: 

Maria HardingFebruary 1, 2015 at 9:23 PM

I really hadn't really thought about it until I read your article then, as I read the first couple of paragraphs here, I was saying to myself, oh no, they can't do that. Then, I absolutely agree if someone has the civilian id then yes. Make it complete. Really good article Cyrsti. Thank you so much for opening my eyes

Thanks to you Maria!  Yes, gender markers are almost as big as deal as the physical transition itself.  It's a daunting task to go back and attempt to erase all vestiges of one's former gender life.  I have read stories of one trans woman who ran into problems (of all places) at her dog's veterinarian.  After all, one bigot in a system seeking to make some sort of statement is all you need to jam a wrench in your life.

But all is getting better-in some places.  My friend Racquel just celebrated her legal name change this week as did my friend Draco years ago.  Here in Ohio though-we are stuck with our birth gender on our birth certificates as I write this.  Getting a passport and a new social security card is not impossible either.  My problems come with playing with Social Security at all and risk my retirement check.

I am sure all of you who have journeyed down the gender marker route at all probably have different stories depending on where you live.  One fact remains-transitioning is not for sissies!

Super Pick

It's true, it seems hell will have to freeze over before another Super Bowl ever comes through Ohio again.  Old time misguided Cleveland Browns fans will feed you some sort of BS about some sort of pre historic championships they won before the first Super Bowl.  On the other hand (and the other end of the state) the Cincinnati Bengals have been twice only to sustain heartbreaking defeats.  Now we are stuck with an "almost" good enough coach and a not good enough "ginger QB".

However, none of my whining stops me from a Super Bowl prediction!

Remember, first of all, I have my biases and emotional attachments to consider.  First of all, forget about Brady playing with his balls or any of the other cheating the Patriots do.  I look at it this way-if Bellicheat was really playing with Tom's balls-of all teams-the Ravens would have screamed like little girls.  (Patriots beat the Ravens before playing the Colts).  Why emotionally I would love to see Seattle dismantle Brady is that he played for Michigan.  I am not alone.  Last season when the Patriots and Bengals played here in Cincinnati, the game was close into the fourth quarter when Brady had the ball and the heavens opened and literally doused him with rain.  What's that tell you?

I'm going to blame my pick on HRT- I think New England will win, although I don't want them to. (Sorry Connie)

Don't Look Now-

All of the sudden, transgender veterans are beginning to have their DD 214's changed to reflect their feminine lifestyle:

This week the National LGBT Bar Association announced a historic decision by the United States Navy, which issued new military documents recognizing a transgender veteran’s legal name change and gender identity. The association also hailed similar victories for two veterans of the U.S. Army. 

 

Lieutenant Paula M. Neira, a 1985 Naval Academy graduate who served in Operation Desert Storm, filed her case in March 2014 and received word in the mail on January 23 that her name change had been approved. She is the first Navy veteran to be issued new Department of Defense paperwork known as Form DD-214. This form is used by Navy veterans to prove they served, whenever they apply for work or for benefits and services available only to veterans. 

 

Neira told Daily Kos the decision came as a pleasant surprise. “I was expecting a fight,” she said. Despite serving with distinction and being awarded more than 20 military decorations, Neira told Today Health she felt she had to leave the Navy because of her gender identity.

 

“I never wanted to leave and hoped to spend my entire life in the Navy,” she said. “I had to leave and be who I am. That decision was the hardest one I have ever made.”

 

Neira resigned her commission in 1991, and underwent gender confirmation surgery in 1995. 

 

Neira, now a nurse educator in Bowie, Md., learned the importance of the DD-214 document when a job offer was rescinded, after she revealed to a prospective employer what her military records would say about her. 

 

“This is an important step for so many transgender veterans, and we are glad the Navy has made it,” said Brynn Tannehill, a former Navy pilot and Director of Advocacy for Service Members, Partners, Allies for Respect and Tolerance for All (SPART*A).

 

 

Of the 22 million veterans of the armed forces, the Williams Institute, a UCLA Law School think tank, estimates 134,000 are transgender. But a spokesman for the Pentagon told Daily Kos these decisions do not reflect a change in official policy.

 

“At this time, there are no plans to change the DOD policy on the DD-214,” Lt. Cmdr. Nate Christensen said in a statement. 

 

In addition, the Pentagon’s deputy general counsel responded to a request by the LGBT Bar Association to distribute official policy guidance to the boards that govern the DD-214s, with a terse statement explaining why it was “unnecessary.” 

 

Neira told Today Health, “Hopefully, it will become routine for any transgender vet to request a new DD-214. The broader implication is to recognize that transgender people can serve in the military. To make it difficult serves no other purpose than ignorance and bigotry.”