The Cutting Edge--May 18, 2014
By Barbara F.
Anderson, Ph.D., LCSW
Bradley/Chelsea Manning, the soldier convicted of leaking
classified documents to WikiLeaks, was granted the right to a legal name change
to Chelsea Elizabeth Manning by a Kansas judge.
This decision allows for official changes to Private Manning’s military
records; however, it does not compel the service to treat her as a woman. Therefore, she is not entitled to be moved to
a prison with a women’s unit or receive counseling or hormonal or surgical treatment.
(NY Times Apr.2014)
In 2 more related articles about military practices
affecting trans soldiers, it appears that there is more willingness to review
policies. The Report of the Transgender
Military Service Commission, issued March 2014, considers whether Pentagon
policies that exclude trans service members are medically sound. The Commission, chaired by Joycelyn Elders,
MD (former US Surgeon General) and Alan Steinman, MD, found the discharge of trans
military personnel “inconsistent with how
the military regulates medical and psychological conditions, and arbitrary in
that medical conditions related to transgender identity appear to be the only
gender-related conditions requiring discharge irrespective of fitness for
duty.” The Commission enumerates numerous examples supporting their findings
and these can be accessed online by googling the Report of the Transgender
Military Service Commission.
In reaction to the findings of the Commission, Defense
Secretary Chuck Hagel stated that “the military should ‘continually’ review its
prohibition on transgender people in the Armed Forces, calling into question
whether the Pentagon’s ban may eventually be lifted, as was the ban on gay men
and lesbians in the military.” This
story appeared in the NY Times May 11, 2014.
“For These Females, No Such Thing as Penis Envy” is an
article on a recent study of the Brazilian insect, Neotrogla. In a case of
sex-role reversal, findings are that females have penises that can erect and
penetrate and males have vaginas. Copulation
lasts 40-70 hours during which time sperm is transferred from the male to the
female. “As soon as the females become
adults, they may force weaker males to have sex with them just to obtain the
fluid to produce eggs.” Ain’t nature
grand? (NY Times Apr. 22, 2014)
Seamus Johnston, a transgender man, is being represented
by the Transgender Law Center in his sex discrimination law suit against the
University of Pittsburgh. After having
lived as a man for the 3 years he was a student at the university, he was
summarily informed that he was no longer allowed to use men’s restrooms or
locker rooms unless he obtained a new birth certificate or court order
attesting to his male gender. He
continued to use the banned facilities following which the university “engaged
in a campaign of persecution against him, having him arrested and criminally
prosecuted and eventually expelling him, causing him to lose his full
scholarship.” The TLC’s defense
maintains that laws prohibiting discrimination based on sex include protections
for transpeople as well. For more info
on this case, go to www.transgenderlawcenter.org/archives /10154.
A new resource for consumers, activists, and. policy makers
concerned with upholding the rights of transpeople is “License to Be
Yourself.” Addressing the dilemma faced
when one’s passport, driver’s license or national ID card does not reflect
one’s gender identity, it documents worldwide laws and policies that enable
transpeople to change their identity on official documents. To learn more, go to www.opensocietyfoundations.org/reports/license-to-be-yourself.
