Former Virginia Beach SEAL Chris tells story as Kristin

The Virginian Pilot is carrying a lengthy story on Christopher Todd Beck, a retired 46-year-old Navy SEAL who now lives openly as Kristin Beck.  Beck has authored a book "Warrior Princess,"in which she describes two decades as a member of the Naval Special Warfare command, including SEAL Team 6, with seven combat deployments, including service in Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan.  As one might imagine, some of the local spittle flecked Christofascists and Neanderthals are going berserk.  To say that some of the comments are ugly is an understatement.  Thankfully, some commentators are giving the hate mongers as good as they have given.  Perhaps there is hope for Virginia yet.  Here are highlights from the Pilot article:

Her military file has her listed as Christopher Todd Beck, a retired 46-year-old Navy SEAL who spent five years in Virginia Beach, earned a Bronze Star with valor and a Purple Heart and served in three different SEAL commands - including the exclusive SEAL Team 6.

What it doesn't say is that Christopher now lives openly as Kristin Beck, a woman who never would have been allowed to serve had she been honest about her transgender identity.

In a memoir titled "Warrior Princess," released Saturday with little fanfare by a tiny publishing company, Beck describes two decades as a member of the Naval Special Warfare command, with seven combat deployments, including service in Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

Beck describes the internal struggles - believing he was a female trapped in a male body - that began when he was just a boy.

The inner conflict didn't fade, even as he pursued his career as an elite commando in an exclusively male profession.

In one excerpt, Beck describes the irony of being dressed as an Afghan man to blend in with Taliban men who'd expressed a deep hatred of women.

It wasn't until after retiring in 2011 as a senior chief petty officer that Beck came out as a transgender woman, identifying as Kristin.

Beck now works as a military contractor in the Tampa, Fla. area. One of her previous bosses, retired SEAL and astronaut William Shepherd, wrote the book's foreword, praising Beck's courage.

Kudos for Beck's courage and past service.  I will not give a platform to some of the horrible comments left by the "godly folk" but did like a couple of supportive comments: 

This is the "sum of all fears" for conservatives!  You have a former Navy Seal who is transgender. The comments are going to get very interesting from members of the Patriot Party, you know, the one that believes in equal rights for all.  Hey conservatives, see if you can find it in your hearts too just say "thank you for your service" instead of bashing please.  Oh, it's too late I see!

Then there's this one:

But I guess when a person's mind is not open enough to take in new information and possibilities the world is a scary place.  My wife and I prefer to keep being the people our son's friend could come talk to when he was dealing with his sexuality issues and knew his mother would hate him because she had often stated that homosexuality was a perversion and evil. And having a son who said "You're still my friend,so what if you're gay!" was about one of the proudest moments.

Here's a photo of Beck in Afghanistan:

Trans-Man Denied Name Change By Virginia Judge

Jacob Haley

One of the niche areas of my law practice is assisting transgender clients in securing amendments to their birth certificates once they have completed the sex reassignment process.  Virginia has no set form of petition for the process although statutory authority for such amendments and the Virginia  Code section is cited in the petitions and court orders I prepare.  I almost never get involved in securing court orders for name changes since typically the process is so easy that clients usually handle that process themselves, especially since a standard application form is available on the Virginia Judiciary web page in a fill in the blank PDF format.  Unless, apparently one is in Louisia County before judge, Timothy Sanner, who seemingly makes up his own rules that differ from the requirements of the Virginia Code.  Sadly, many judges in Virginia appear to feel that they can do whatever they want when it comes to LGBT clients and from my experience, the Judicial Review Commission never disciplines judges who abuse LGBT clients.  I was interviewed by GayRVA which has an article on the situation.  Here are highlights from that article:

A trans-man from Louisa County, Virginia, has been denied a name change by a Circuit Judge who, contrary to current Virginia law, said medical documentation was required for legal name changes.

Jacob Haley went to the Louisa County Courthouse in February of this year. When he handed the clerk the forms to change his legal name from his female birth name to his male name, the clerk, according to Haley, said ”more than likely (you’re) going to need a hearing, the judge is going to want to know the reasoning.”

Haley realized this might happen and asked if he would need to bring anything with him when he returned to court. He was told to bring “anything that would help explain the name change.”

Haley currently works two jobs and receives health care form one of his employers. But his health care does not cover transgender-related services, including hormone treatment or therapy. Unable to afford treatment, Haley has been working with local groups and has been raising funds independently. But it has not been easy. “It’s a struggle,” said Haley. “I’ve been trying to get money together since 2011 when I came out.”

The judge, Hon. Timothy Sanner, told Haley that in previous name-changing cases involving transgender individuals, a note from a doctor or some medical record was brought to help prove the need for a name change. According to Haley, Judge Sanner said “The prior case had been seen by a therapist for years, had been through hormone therapy, and had a letter and things to back their story up.”

Sanner then told Haley he would need to see paperwork from a medical professional before approving the name change.  ”[The judge said] the courts would like to see something of that nature,” Haley said. ”He didn’t say anything about the law.”

Medical documentation is required for changing genders on a birth certificate, and similarly for Virginia state ID’s like driver’s licenses. Hamar said the judge could have confused the two, but denying a simple name change because there is no doctor’s note is not in line with the law. “The forms are standardized, you print them out and pay your money, and you may or may not have to appear. You usually don’t even have to show,” according to Hamar.

Other transgender people in Virginia told GayRVA that they received their legal name changes in similarly simple circumstances. In an email, Ryan O’Donnell changed his name in 2010. “I did it through the mail, so I didn’t have to go before a judge, I just had to get the form notarized and send it to the county clerk’s office. I got the form back in a couple of weeks with no hassle… I have plenty of trans friends in Virginia who changed their names with little to no hassle.”

Haley has 60 days to go back before the judge with a medical letter. He’s not sure why the judge singled him out for this case, especially after hearing about the ease so many other trans individuals had with the name change process. ”It blows my mind that people can have their name changed to whatever they want,” said Haley, “but when it comes to someone needing their name changed for their mental health, they get roadblocked.”

When one reads the instructions to the application form for seeking a name change, when it comes to supporting documentation, the instructions state "None."  The only issues covered in the application are assurance that the name change is not being done for fraudulent purposes or to hide from creditors or probation officers.  Apparently none of this means anything to Judge Sanner who makes up his own rules - especially for LGBT petitioners.   Welcome to Virginia which has a well deserved anti-gay reputation.

Through Sickness, Health and Sex Change

The law really does not contemplate what happens when one member of a married heterosexual couple has sex reassignment surgery and legally becomes a member of the opposite sex, thereby suddenly making the marriage a same sex marriage. Virginia certainly does not - even though there are couples that find themselves in that situation as is the case with one of my clients. Does the law ignore the sex change? Does the marriage between what are now a same sex couple violate state constitutional provisions banning same sex marriages? Because Virginia does recognize sex reassignment surgery and will grant amended birth certificates, there truly is no definitive answer since the marriage was legal when the parties entered into it. No doubt in some state somewhere a court decision will be handed down in the future that squarely addresses the situation. Until then, the issue remains clouded and, depending on differing state laws, will probably remain clouded in many states. Of course, situations involving such couples make Christianist hate merchants like Matt Staver of Liberty Counsel, a wingnut "public interest law firm," nearly foam at the mouth. Because of all of this, I found this New York Times story on one such couple interesting. Here are some highlights:
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THERE are ways in which the Brunners are like many other middle-aged married couples. Former high school and college sweethearts, they finish each other’s sentences and order the same food at restaurants. They shuttle their three children to sports practices, and laugh when their 90-pound Labrador retriever jumps onto the sofa to lick guests.

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“We’re one of the few of our friends who are still in our original marriage,” Denise Brunner said. But it is not exactly the same union, as evidenced by their marriage certificate, which they have enlarged to poster size to make the point. The original, from 1980, listed Donald Brunner as the bridegroom and Frances Gottschalk as the bride. But a sex-change operation in 2005 turned Donald into Denise. Fran stood by her spouse, and the couple secured an amended certificate, putting “Denise” next to “bridegroom” for lack of other options.

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Massachusetts is the only state to have legalized same-sex marriage, and the Brunners are two women married to each other in New Jersey. As this state (along with Connecticut, Vermont and New Hampshire) confronts challenges over whether its civil unions fulfill the mandate of providing same-sex couples equal rights and benefits, the Brunners offer themselves as Exhibit A on how the nation’s dizzying patchwork of marriage laws, which include the domestic partnerships of California and other states, may be out of step with people’s lives. The Brunners say they have no interest in obtaining a civil union — they consider it a downgrading of their relationship — but they do worry about their status.

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Julie A. Greenberg, a professor at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego, said marriages like that of the Brunners are rarely challenged by government agencies because more conservative states do not recognize sex changes, and more liberal ones (like New Jersey) are loath to seem hostile to transsexuals.

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Legal groups that have fought to preserve traditional marriage are less concerned with couples like the Brunners than those like the Littletons, who seek a heterosexual union after surgery. “What you’re born with is what you are,” said Mathew Staver, the founder of the Liberty Counsel, a nonprofit organization in Florida, who successfully argued the final stages of the 2004 Florida case. “It’s the same as if you go through plastic surgery to look like Marilyn Monroe, but you’re still not Marilyn Monroe.”