The Navy can provide training to help sailors understand what it means when a person is transgender. U.S. Navy Photo
It was almost 0730, the air crisp and the sand damp. Red Bull in hand, I made my way to the theater for morning quarters. The squadron shuffled in and filled the seats. An officer stood and yawned as he stepped in front of the stage. “Can you all hear me?” He cleared his throat and announced a new type of training. We were told people who are transgender were now “accepted” into the U.S. Navy and the other military branches. I saw no acceptance of any kind in the crowd of more than 100 people.
Sarcastic laughs filled the background like Musak in a grocery store. The announcement caught me off guard as well, being told a woman who was once a man potentially could share a room with me. It felt different. Then a woman stood and asked the question it seemed everyone was thinking. “Does this mean I will share a bathroom with these people?”
From Fear to Acceptance
Suddenly, I felt angry. Is this what it was like in the early 1970s, when major changes occurred for women in the Navy? Then, the thought of a woman serving beside a man on the deck of a ship was outrageous, even comical. Here I am, however, decades later: a 25-year-old enlisted woman, sitting in this theater in the Middle East, next to a man—a privilege I once would not have been granted. An idea once unimaginable is now usual; it is accepted.
I realized I was like that man from the 70s thinking this was some kind of joke. What is the Navy thinking? I became ashamed at my own thoughts. Transgender individuals in the military stood up and volunteered to defend our country while being ridiculed by those who are supposed to be their brothers and sisters. Every one of us joined to be a part of something larger than ourselves. Who are we to judge others for their life choices or scorn their commitment to service?
An enlistee with whom I went to boot camp came out as transgender and now identifies as male. The fortitude it must have taken to do this astounds me. At his new command his brothers and sisters were cruel and unsympathetic. He wrote of the battle he fought day to day with himself, his family, and his military brethren and how these feelings pushed him to thoughts of suicide.
The fear of being judged can shape self-perception. We can eliminate this obstacle. Training can lead to a better understanding of what it means to say “I am transgender.” Do you know what gender dysphoria is? Do you understand the difference between transgender and transvestite? We forget that not long ago race, gender, and ethnicity were at this same starting point. Is it so easy to forget the battles fought previously?
This topic is new, and no doubt that scares people. However, I hope that one day transgender service members will be accepted. Carl Brashear, the first African American U.S. Navy master diver; Amelia Earhart, the first female aviator; and Deborah Sampson, who disguised herself as a man to fight with the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, were not accepted because of their gender or race. They were ridiculed for who they were, just as my brothers and sisters were ridiculing transgender people in the theater that day. Today, we learn about them in school and look at them as idols.
In her 2003 article, “Navy Celebrates 25 Years of Women at Sea,” Sheree Callahan writes about Rear Admiral Deborah A. Loewer’s experience in 1979 as one of the first women at sea on board the USS Yosemite (AD-19). She still remembers the captain’s exact words; “I did not ask for women on my ship, find them something to do.”1 The United States need any man or woman willing to answer the call to military service, regardless of race, sexual orientation, or gender identity. As a military we have come far; let us not step backward.
Lead by Example
Less than 1 percent of adults in the United States identify themselves as transgender, and only a fraction of transgender people join the military.2 Such a small pool of individuals means fewer people fighting for this movement than fought to be accepted regardless of their of sexual orientation or race.
When I look at my squadron I do not see gender, race, or orientation; I see a group of volunteers who have come together to better this country. The struggle transgender people face is not so different from the struggles faced ten years ago, or ten years before that.
Speaking with sailors from the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” era, our meeting in the Middle East felt like déjà vu from their all-hands training after the repeal of that policy. There were similar questions, such as “Will I have to share a room with a gay man?” and “What if I am not comfortable?” A good friend of mine who is gay told me joining during this era “was pretending to be someone I am not and almost like having to go back in the closet.”
As a junior sailor I have many leaders and much to learn on how to better myself. But it is never too early to show leadership; that’s why I am standing up and defending my brothers and sisters in arms and showing them they are not alone. Like one pair of clapping hands starting a round of applause, it often takes just one person standing up to give others the courage to do the same.
People left the theater that day laughing. A voice rang out, “Yeah, right; this is such a joke,” as we made our way to the barracks. I saw a young man walking off red faced, his expression pained. I knew this man; he is gay. Being gay, however, is just a part of who he is—he also is an excellent leader, a talented writer, and with more compassion than any person I have met. He has taught me so much about becoming a sharp Sailor, much more than the man reacting as if we had just watched a comedy performance.
We can provide awareness throughout our Navy and our military by speaking in support of our transgender brothers and sisters and showing them that they are not alone, and that we support their service.
1. Sheree Callahan, “Navy Celebrates 25 Years of Women at Sea,” Sealift (December 2003).
2. Jan Hoffman, “Estimate of U.S. Transgender Population Doubles to 1.4 Million Adults,” New York Times, 30 June 2016.
Seaman Haught enlisted in the Navy in 2016 and completed her first deployment as an aviation warfare specialist. She is working on her bachelor’s degree in psychology.