Another Transsexual Soldier

[Melody Moore]

As some people here are aware, Im a former soldier who served in the Australian Army, here is a story that aired on television tonight here in Australia that brought me to tears.



DEFENCE force chiefs have agreed to pay for the sex change operation of a soldier who wants to return to her old job training Diggers in extreme sports after her surgery.

Army Captain Matthew Clinch, who served twice in East Timor, will become Bridget Clinch after gender reassignment-realignment surgery, funded by taxpayers.

Victorian RSL president Maj-Gen David McLachlan said he was surprised the Army was picking up the tab. "It seems a little odd that they would allow such an abnormal situation get this far," Maj-Gen McLachlan said.

"The soldier involved would be putting themselves in a situation where they would be subjected to all sorts of peer pressure." Asked if paying for the surgery was a good use of defence funds, he said: "It's unusual."


Capt Clinch is in Brisbane with partner Tammy and two daughters on extended sick leave from her job as second-in-command of the army's Adventurous Training Wing based at Wagga in southern NSW, but wants her former job back.


Appearing on Seven's Sunday Night last night the decorated East Timor veteran, who did two tours of duty with the Townsville-based 1st Battalion, said she'd always felt like a woman locked in a man's body.

"There is no difference between what I can do and what any other female can do once I've finished all of my treatment," Capt Clinch said.

Tammy, who also trained as an army officer and describes Capt Clinch as her "knight in shining armour", is angry the military took so long to agree to fund the treatment.

"Matt was a good army officer, I think that Bridget will make a better army officer, they just need to realise it. "I saw my partner suffering really badly and I helped him. It was hard though because I was helping destroy the outside bit of the man I loved."


But Capt Clinch's mother, Deidre, told Channel 7 her son had mutilated his body.
"Matthew had a healthy body . . . he was very particular about health and lifestyle and for him to mutilate this beautiful body, which I've watched grow," she said. "He said there was a mistake on his birth certificate, there was no mistake, he was a perfect little boy, he was the most beautiful child."

Defence chief Angus Houston has ordered his troops to "manage ADF transgender personnel with fairness, respect and dignity . . . and ensure all personnel are not subject to unacceptable behaviour".

There is at least one other ADF member seeking financial support to change from male to female.


Click to watch Part 1 of the video here (http://au.tv.yahoo.com/sunday-night/video/-/watch/22880704)
Click to watch Part 2 of the video here (http://au.tv.yahoo.com/sunday-night/video/-/watch/22880711)
Click to watch the interview with Professor Linda (http://au.tv.yahoo.com/sunday-night/video/-/watch/22867847/)
Click to watch the Diane Shaw Interview (http://au.tv.yahoo.com/sunday-night/video/-/watch/22867875/)

Also see Let them Serve: Australian Defence Forces drops ban on transgender soldiers
(http://www.crikey.com.au/2010/09/15/let-them-serve-defence-drops-ban-on-transgender-soldiers/)

[Melody Moore]

This story since it aired on National television here in Australia has sparked off a heap of discussion on the Australian
Transsexual Support Network, I really cannot believe that it hasn't raised a single comment on this forum since I posted it.

I was reduced to tears when I seen this story because I can personally relate to Captain Bridget on so many
levels here. I only wished I could have had this level of support from the ADF when I served between 1980-84.

This article has inspired & also prompted me to write to my local Federal Member of Parliament this morning to urge more government intervention and a revision of our Medicare system, Anti-discrimination laws & to make available support services to get transgendered people back into the workforce. I also included a request to my Federal member for the Federal Governments to help promote more transsexual awareness & better acceptance.

Here is is a copy of the letter I sent this morning to my local member of parliament.


Dear Mr Entsch

I am writing to you because I am a transsexual female diagnosed as having Gender Identity Disorder, a known medical condition that has had serious implications for me all my life.

Becoming a transsexual isn't a decision I ever made, it was a card I was dealt when I was born & I now have to try and live with.

Last night there was a story about Captain Bridget a similar person to myself that aired on Channel 7's 'Sunday Night' Television program.

The only difference between myself and Captain Bridget is that I am on a disability support pension and cannot afford to save enough money to pay for very expensive Sex Reassignment Surgery in Thailand. The cost of which including airfares would be about $15,000.

My condition affects my state of mental health, it has caused me to suffer from severe anxiety & depression which has affected me to such a degree that it has forced me out of the work force and onto a Disability Support Pension in 1998. I was diagnosed at the time as having a 'personality disorder'.

Since being forced on to a pension I have become an even greater burden to the Australian Taxpayer because I have had to rely on Centrelink since then for financial support.

At present I am currently costing the Australian taxpayer over $21,000 in Centrelink payments each year just to support me.

At times my Gender Identity Disorder has affected me to a point that I have become suicidal. It has destroyed many aspects of my life including relationships with members of my own family, my parents and my own children.

There also needs to be more work done with regards to improving anti-discrimination laws and also to promote public awareness & acceptance in society to remove the vilification and discrimination that still seriously affects transgendered people like myself here in Australia.

I believe that if the Australian Government can intervene and help here to further improve support services as well as make sex reassignment & feminisation surgery available to transgendered people like myself that need this type of help then I have a much better chance to get my life back together & become a good taxpaying citizen in this great country of ours once again.

If the ADF can consider such issues as the cost to the Australian Taxpayer, then I would most certainly like to know why the Federal Government cannot do the same for people like me who currently rely on welfare payments the disability support pension who cant afford te expensive cosmetic surgery required that would allow me to live my life as my true self and help me as well to return to the workforce.

I am no different in the medical condition I suffer to Captain Bridget and I believe that the Medicare system needs to be revised.

I need your help and your services to advocate these services for thousands of other transgendered people living in Australian society.

Best Regards, Melody Moore


I am currently costing the Australian Government well over $21,000 a year in support payments being on a Disability Support Pension - I think that if our government improved services for transgendered people in Australian society then there would be a lot less of us to be such a long term burden on the Australian Taxpayer. Do you think that its a good thing that the Australian Defence Forces & the Australian Federal government invests this type of money to get people like myself who have been diagnosed with the medical condition, Gender Dysphoria back into the workforce and contributing in more productive ways to Australian Society?

[Teri Jean]

Melody, I am happy for those who are able to take advantage of this turn of events. Had I known this is who I am back during my service (67-71) it would have been hell on earth. Today I have come a long ways and I still find new challenges. United States has been viewed differently by the rest of the world but Australia has in many ways is far more "civilized" and helpful. Thank you for the article and your letter. Hugs sis. Teri

[Melody Moore]

Thanks Teri for your reply. My joining the Australian Army was my way of avoiding my gender identity disorder at the time. However I never dared to breath a word of it while I was in the services for fear of further repercussions. So I totally relate to what you meant by 'Hell on Earth'. With all the attempts I made to be a man, it still never changed who I was on the inside and as I've got older the problem had become much worse until I finally faced up to my fears in recent years. I know now that coming out about my true self has taken far more bravery & courage than anything else I have faced up to while I was in the services - this is why I respect other transsexuals so much - I think we are the bravest of souls living in society today.

It is a breath of fresh air now to see that attitudes are changing in such a male dominated environment like the Army and I sincerely hope that this model can serve as an example as well to American society. But I really don't think that anything will change in your country unless more people in the US start to be more like Captain Bridget & take charge of their issues & stand up for themselves. Even while we have it much better here in Australia with regards to getting access to doctors, counselling & onto hormone therapy, I still see lots of room for improvement especially in the areas of FFS & SRS. Its shocking to think that nearly all Australian Transsexuals have to come up with the funds and travel offshore to Thailand in such a 'civilised ultra modern society'. So in some ways we are still living in the dark ages.

[Karen564]

Thank You Melody, I watched all 4 videos...& many parts of those really did get to me emotionally...since I've been there & lived it makes it even more painful to watch because I know exactly how they feel & what their experiencing.....I can especially relate to Bridget about trying to be the blokiest of blokes...(manlynest of men) ...lol
I also thought Professor Linda was amazing...she was spot on about everything & very well spoken.

[7sisters]

Hi Melody, I will watch these clips at the end of the month as it takes many bytes. I will comment much much later. these are videos I will not miss! thank you Melody.
So nice to meet you from the armed forces... there are servicemen in my family.

[CharleneCD]

Also see [/COLOR]Let them Serve: Australian Defence Forces drops ban on transgender soldiers
(http://www.crikey.com.au/2010/09/15/let-them-serve-defence-drops-ban-on-transgender-soldiers/)



[/LEFT]

[/COLOR][/LEFT]
And here I sit in what is supposed to be the greatest, most free country on earth, and we still cant manage to let gays serve openly in the service, let alone even think about Transgender doing the same.

Kudos to Capt. Bridget and the Aussie military.

[Danni Bear]

Melody,

As a post-op TS M2F ex-navy vetran in the US, I would love to see any part of this happen here. I don't see it happening within my lifetime though.Just the fact of it happening in AUS. and Canada gives me hope that eventually it will come here. Thanks for the articles showing how far AUS has travelled along this path and hopefully you will travel even further and guide the rest of the world in understanding and accepting all under the TG/TS umbrella.

Danni

[Melody Moore]

Thanks girls for your support - its nice to know the tides are turning somewhere in the world.
I just hope the example now being set in Australia starts to also flow on to our allied nations.

I got a message from Captain Bridget's wife, Tammy today that I would like to share with you


I am so glad and so proud that our story has helped someone start to stand up for their rights! Well done Melody! Please make sure you share the response - democracy only works if we stand up and be counted and if we make sure our elected representatives do something.
We are going to be following up with more media and more letters to politicians etc - this was just the first step. The more trans people who can put their hands up and say 'stop treating us like second class citizens because we were born like this (you b a r s t a r ds!)' the better. We could have just had a big whinge about how horrible the Army have been to us, just to make it to this point, but we think its more important to advocate for change and use the public profile we now have to make things better for ourselves and for everyone like us.
We will be doing more and if people are interested in sharing some of their story in a limited way (e.g. publishing that letter and the response with your personal info removed on our website), then we would really appreciate the support.
Thank-you so much for sharing Melody and Julie.
Take care,
Tammy

[7sisters]

Oh this is so good!

[Melody Moore]

Guess what girls? I had a missed call & a message left on my mobile phone this afternoon from the Honourable Mr Warren Entsch himself, its just a pity that I was busy on another call on my landline at the time. I will be definitely calling him back first thing tomorrow morning to hear what he has to say in response to my letter. But the good news is from the sound of the voice message that he left for me, he is seriously interested in taking up my agenda.

More of us need to stand up and be counted just like I have been saying all along on this forum if you want to see positive changes...
and those exact same words were also echoed in the message that Captain Bridget's wife Tammy sent to me in a message yesterday.


I am so glad and so proud that our story has helped someone start to stand up for their rights! Well done Melody! Please make sure you share the response - democracy only works if we stand up and be counted and if we make sure our elected representatives do something.
We are going to be following up with more media and more letters to politicians etc - this was just the first step. The more trans people who can put their hands up and say 'stop treating us like second class citizens because we were born like this (you b a r s t a r ds!)' the better. We could have just had a big whinge about how horrible the Army have been to us, just to make it to this point, but we think its more important to advocate for change and use the public profile we now have to make things better for ourselves and for everyone like us.
We will be doing more and if people are interested in sharing some of their story in a limited way (e.g. publishing that letter and the response with your personal info removed on our website), then we would really appreciate the support.
Thank-you so much for sharing Melody and Julie.
Take care,
Tammy

[Melody Moore]

Captain Bridget appeared on the Sunrise Morning program here in Australia today - See the interview here: http://au.tv.yahoo.com/sunrise/video/-/watch/22945059/

I also spoke with Mr Warren Entsch this morning and he told me that he also seen the story about Captain Bridget last Sunday night. The Australian Government is committed to promoting transgender & transsexual awareness, so they are in the process of establishing a public forum to find out the needs of the transgender community here in Australia.

Mr Entsch also said that the government is also committed to making gender reassignment procedures part of the public health system once they have established exactly what our needs are. The Federal government is establishing a public forum with the GLBTi community with a focus in gender related issues to improve health services & anti-discrimination laws. Captain Bridget also raise the point about SRS not being covered the public health system here in Australia during her interview this morning. Up until this point the only people that could get SRS under the public health system were prisoners in jail.

A few other issues I also raised with Mr Entsch including the lack of information made available to the Australian Public and the ignorance by local medical practitioners of what sexual health & gender services are actually available in local communities were matters he was going to personally address in the next few weeks. This is great news for transgender community and as I said before, I certainly hope that the Australian model also helps our trans-brothers & sisters in allied nations.

I will keep you up-to-date as more news comes to hand.

[Suzette Muguet de Mai]

Wow, has she got guts. Not only has she brought transgenderism out to the public but also the rights for military personel to claim what is listed as entitlements to which they are allowed. It also showed the problems associated with TG/CD who comes out to family and friends. At least Bridget has a loving partner who has stuck by her side, unlike her mother who shows resentment and disgust. I see my own mother in Bridget's mother and the main reason why I fear saying anything to offend her. Even some of the comments sounded like my own mother's comments. I wonder if a private or lance corporal who has not seen battle engagements would have had the same attention as a Duntroon graduate who has served overseas with merit. I hope that Bridget brings open debate in society accepting TG/CD and the rights of military personel to their entitlements for serving their country in whatever way. If they are prepared to lay down their lives for me, I certainly stand tall and always display respect for the military and the uniform they wear. I hope positive feedback comes from this and Captain Bridget gains her rightful rank within Australian Military forces to serve all of us in whatever deployment she gets, in return I salute you dear girl thank you very much.

[Melody Moore]

Well, if my letter to my local member of parliament hasn't fuelled even more debate in Federal politics within Australia with GLBTi Issues after the story with Captain Bridget?

I spoke on the phone again tonight to Mr Warren Entsch after a brief article was released to the media today (http://www.cairns.com.au/article/2010/11/16/135481_local-news.html) that was really vague.So he forwarded on his Hansard to federal Parliament tonight in which he is proposing to set up a Cross-party Parliamentary GLBTi Friendship Group to address the needs of the entire GLBTi community in Australia - with a special focus on Transgender related issues.


HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CHAMBER
Monday, 15 November 2010

Mr ENTSCH (Leichhardt) (8.56 pm)—I am very
well documented as an advocate for gay rights and the
right to equality and I continue to support the cause
wholeheartedly. I have many gay friends who have
been adversely impacted upon by discrimination in our
communities, and I believe that equality should not be
determined by one's sexuality under any circumstance.
I am aware that there is a growing list of countries allowing
same-sex couples to marry, and I agree that we
need to gauge constituents' views on the subject of gay
marriage. While I support gays and lesbians in having
their relationships recognised, I think there are much
bigger issues at play that need to be dealt with as a
matter of priority.

Just some of the issues that gay, lesbian, bisexual
and transgender people are facing through federal government
discrimination include where some individuals
are unable to access the necessary Medicare rebate
codes required to provide medical treatment because of
the way the government sees their sex. For example,
they may have legally changed their sex, in the case of
a transgender person, or they may be legally recognised
as a male but have physical attributes usually
associated with a female, in the case of intersex people.

In both cases, where Medicare provides rebates for
only men or only women, sex and gender diverse people
get caught up in the middle of the red tape. Government
departments have refused to recognise that
while you were born a man you now live the life of a
woman, due to various legal and financial hurdles involved
in meeting government requirements. In these
cases government communication often still contains
the prefix `Mr' rather than `Mrs' or `Miss'. For a transgender
woman living in a rural town, this can cause
enormous mental anguish as your neighbours find out
about your past.

There are a range of other issues that face older gay,
lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in Australia.
Many older people in this community currently accessing
aged-care services have lived a lifetime of discrimination
and they continue to remain in the closet in
aged care, fearful of discrimination, and are therefore
largely invisible in the aged-care sector. Because aged care
services have largely not recognised gay, lesbian,
bisexual and transgender clients, they are forced to
return to their closet in old age in the fear of receiving
lesser treatment by their aged-care service providers.
The transfer of responsibility for aged care from states
to the federal government as part of the health and
hospitals reform provides a unique opportunity for the
federal government to address this issue and ensure
that culturally appropriate aged-care services cater for
the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender older Australians.

The definition of de facto spouse within the Sex
Discrimination Act is the last remaining definition in
federal legislation where there is a distinction between
heterosexual de facto couples and same-sex couples.

During the 2010 federal campaign it was the Liberal
Party that was committed to protecting same-sex couples
from discrimination by introducing protections on
the grounds of relationship status. The change to include
same-sex couples in the Sex Discrimination Act
is a minor technical amendment that would bring the
Sex Discrimination Act into line with the 2008 reforms
passed by the parliament that enjoyed absolute bipartisan
support. I might add it was a campaign that I initiated
back in 2004 and during the next three years was
able to convince both sides of parliament of the value
of being able to proceed with the removal of this discrimination.
The impact, however, of this amendment
would ensure that the benchmark was set across Australia
that same-sex de facto couples could not be discriminated
against.

Another area that also needs to be addressed is that
identified by ACON's Mental Health and Well-being
Strategy that same-sex attracted young couples are at
significantly higher risk of self-harm and suicidal behaviours,
with many factors influencing behaviour. It is
important that we deal with that. My point is that we
are a long way from correcting much of the urgent issues
facing this community before we tackle the recognition
of gay unions. We need to get our priorities
right. I am very keen to establish a gay, lesbian, bisexual
and transgender parliamentary friendship group
where gays and lesbians can have direct access to MPs
to discuss issues of direct concern to them. This will
help us to bring these issues out into the open and I
believe it is an essential step in moving forward to
greater equality. I am in the process now of establishing
that as a cross-party parliamentary friendship group
and I encourage all members to participate in that
friendship group. It is a wonderful way of being able to
get a greater understanding of these members of our
community.


Mr Entsch is meeting up with me when he comes back from Canberra in a couple of weeks, and I will handing over a collective submission I am putting
together from the Australian Transsexual Support Network about issues in the Australian Transsexual & Intersexed community that need to be addressed.

If you sit quietly in the corner and say nothing, then nothing will ever change, but if you are willing to stand up & be
counted - then you really can make a difference. Whoever said that this little girl didn't really have a big voice? LOL

We can all make a difference for our community if you are willing to just have a go.