what is this site?
This site is a collection of stories, interviews, photos, and other media relating anything at all to trans sailors of the past and present. I want to know, proudly be, and do anything within my power to help what I’ve come to personally term my people. Too often are my people openly hated, publicly and privately discounted as human beings, attacked, belittled, and made to feel worthless and unwelcome. I will do what I can to change that. This is one way I feel like I can do so.
“We did not seek, nor did we provoke, an assault on our freedoms and our way of life. We did not expect, nor did we invite, a confrontation with evil. Yet the true measure of a people's strength is how they rise to master that moment when it does arrive. But every time we think we have measured our capacity to meet a challenge, we look up and we're reminded that that capacity may well be limitless.” - President Josiah Bartlet, The West Wing, S4E2
Admittedly, a part of me creates this site for completely selfish reasons. I’m tired of talking about civil rights and LGBTQIA+ issues in classes, around campus, and even at the Naval Academy with such a frightful lack of acknowledgement or understanding of my people. I want to know stories of trans women and men in the field of work I love. There is often talk about the ~2% female workforce in the shipping sector of the maritime industry; however, while we can certainly identify together on many shared issues, they are also not my specific people.
How will I find my people? I’ve always had a deep love for reading and thanks to some wonderful humans in my life already know a few places to start in this search for my people and their history. I will reach out to other humans like me and talk with them. Learn their stories. And in turn do what I can to share them.
“How is anything good and right supposed to make its way if we don’t help.” Abby Shutto, NCIS, S11E21
"No matter how dark the moment, love and hope are always a possibility." Derek Morgan, Criminal Minds