Alex Blaze is doing “Rebel Girl” by Bikini Kill (which reminds me of this photo which I saved for I’m not sure what reason some time back) at Bilerico Project. Check it out there.
No, this is Otis Redding’s rendition of “A Change Is Gonna Come” and the only really “queer” thing here is why it took so long …
On the 24th of September, 1980, I entered the U.S. Navy’s boot camp as a seaman recruit. The nation was in the midst of having incredibly high interest rates, stagflation, and high unemployment rates. I joined the Navy in large part because while living in Portland, Oregon — a city and state I’d only moved to a year earlier — I lost my job as a shipping and receiving clerk due to the bad economy and I just couldn’t find another job.
Twenty years and six days later (September 30th, 2000), I retired from the military as a Fire Controlman First Class.
I feel odd in thinking about this today; odd in the sense that the Navy was never a really good fit for me. I knew in the back of my mind from before I joined the Navy that I was gender-variant, although in the late seventies I had gone through some reparative therapy and believed God had healed me from being trans. I also tend to function from the perspective of cooperation, and military services tend to reward best the servicemembers who function from the perspective of competitiveness.
But beyond those personal issues, I was always was concerned about our nation going to war. I trusted that our leaders, especially after the political mess of the Vietnam War, wouldn’t send us to battle without exceptionally good reasons, a clear and limited set of objectives, and without some sort of an exit strategy. I was wrong of course. I feel fortunate that I got out of the Navy prior to September 11th, 2001, and that I was spared being sent to war in either Afghanistan or Iraq.
The Iraq War news I saw on the Rachel Maddow Show last night (September 23rd, 2008) causes me to feel incredibly fortunate that I’m not currently on active duty; I feel incredibly fortunate that by having a Veterans Administration (VA) disability rating of 100% and by being transgender there is a 0% chance I’ll be recalled to active service. And, it causes me some great concern about the military servicesmembers that are called, and will be called in the future, to serve in Iraq:
I would hope the time and the lives of servicemembers are more valuable to the American public that their time and lives appear to be to President George W. Bush and his administration. In my humble opinion as a former servicemember, we need to bring the troops home from Iraq as soon a possible — our servicemembers shouldn’t be separated from their friends and families or placed in physical danger for “political circumstances related to the domestic situation [in the U.S.].”
In two days we’re scheduled to have a presidential debate on foreign policy. If this subject isn’t broached — this subject of keeping military servicemembers in Iraq for 12 or 15 months at a time for reasons relating to “political circumstances related to the domestic situation [in the U.S.]” — then I believe the debate moderator will have seriously failed the American people.
While the political world is focusing on Sen. Biden’s selection as Sen. Obama’s VP pick, I’m about ten minutes away from getting in the shower, and about three-and-a-half hours from arriving at my best friend’s wedding. You see, I’m the Party A maid of honor for Vicki.
I haven’t yet written the toast for the wedding — I’ve been working pretty hard this past week at preparing for the Democratic National Convention, as well as trying to pin down the date and location for California’s Transgender Leadership Summit that will be held in San Diego next March. Busy-busy-busy — I have to get an outline written for the toast within the next few hours.
When I go to convention next week, Lynda’s and Vicki’s wedding will definitely be on my mind. My friends have the freedom to marry today, so preserving this freedom for gay and lesbian Californians in the many tomorrows — especially preserving this freedom for transgender gay and lesbian Californians — is pretty darn important to me.
Sometime this week (I hope), I’ll post pictures of the wedding. Hey — I’ll be the one in the wedding party wearing the violet maid-of-honor gown. ☺
