Contextualizing Non-Binary Identity in a Military Context
By Margo Cohen
The U.S Military, as an institution, has existed since 1775 and the creation of the Continental Army, predating the creation of the United States as a nation by 13 months, and the U.S constitution by some thirteen years. With a nearly two-hundred-fifty year window, it becomes necessary to refine the scope of this section of the examination in order to do justice to any subject, especially when discussing something as complex and nuanced as gender identity. Thus, this section of our deliverable will discuss only the evolution of the American non-binary identity since 1907, the founding year of the Air Force, the youngest military branch with the exception of the Space Force’s inception in 2019. In many senses, this is a great shame: the history of genderfluid and non-binary existence stretches back thousands of years, across cultures, continents, and creed. However, to properly do the subject of this research piece justice, it is entirely necessary to only discuss a sliver of the history. With the frame of examination halved, yet not miniaturized, this research paper’s exploration may properly begin. This paper may, on occasion, use the words “transgender” and “non-binary” interchangeably. This does not mean that transgender people and non-binary people are the same; on the contrary, transgender male-to-female (MTF) and female-to-male (FTM) people’s identities and experiences often vastly differ from those of non-binary people. Rather, this paper functions with the concept of “transgender” as a diverse spectrum, representing anyone who finds they deviate from their assigned sex at birth.
Evolution - Hirschfield and Beyond
The modern American conception of transgender existence was largely shaped by the work of the Weimar sexologist Magnus Hirschfield, who was the first to, in 1910, coin the term “transvestite”. Entirely separate from the negative connotations the word carries today [1], the word was then understood as “women and men who feel reluctant and even refuse to dress in the clothing of their own sex” [2], creating clinical recognition for those whose existence did not adhere to a strict gender binary. Nine years later, Hirschfield opened the “Institut für Sexualwissenschaft”, or “Institute for Sexual Research”, dedicated to treating people who didn’t exist in the binary spectrum with gender-affirming care [3], performing the first gender transition operation sequence in 1930.
On the other side of the ocean, American society began what was to be a long-term reinvigoration of the LGBT+ identity. The 1924 establishment of the Chicago Society for Human Rights(CSHR), a short-lived organization dedicated to promoting social understanding of gay men, heavily inspired by Hirschfield’s work. While not dealing directly with non-binary or otherwise transgender affairs, the CSHR’s work set the foundation for later LGBT groups, including the Daughters of Bilitis and Mattachine Society, who worked for the advancement of those who did not prescribe to heterosexual norms and created a groundwork for LGBT+ acceptance.
Early Affirmative Care Capabilities
Following the end of World War II, American society gradually but undeniably became more open, if not accepting, to transgender and non-binary people, thanks in large part to the work of Christine Jorgensen, a veteran, actress, and musician who was also transgender. During her time in the army, Jorgensen lived as a “male”, in part due to her own lack of diagnosis as a “transsexual” (transgender person), but also because servicemembers who were thought to be homosexual often faced “prison time, a dishonorable discharge, or court-martial.” [4][5] As the first American woman to medically transition, Jorgensen acted as the face of transgender and non-binary advocacy by fielding interviews and carving a space for people who did not fit into the gender binary, emphasizing that there was no person who existed as “100% male” or “100% female”, rather that humanity existed on the spectrum of gender rather than a binary.
​At the same time, American medical professionals came to understand gender as an identity, rather than an assignment. Following an influx of intersex patients at Johns Hopkins, pediatric endocrinologist Dr. Lawson Wilkins concluded that since his patients were born with secondary sex characteristics of both biological males and biological females [6], an optimal treatment plan would help his young patients optimize physical and mental comfort. Any medical measures, he believed, would need to help his patients live as they felt, rather than how society saw them. [7]
Image Description: Christine Jorgensen on-set of her 1970 biographical documentary, The Christine Jorgensen Story. Image courtesy of the National WWII Museum
Turning Point: Stonewall
Each person and event highlighted thus far undeniably contributed scores to the acceptance and integration of non-binary people as American citizens, worthy of rights and respect. However, when contemplating the history of non-binary integration and status, the importance of the 1969 Stonewall Riots is undeniable and must be given proper time.
The Stonewall Inn, a Mafia-run underground gay bar in Greenwich Village, New York, was one of the few places in the city where people in drag were permitted to perform (“cross-dressing” was illegal under anti-masquerading law [8], but the Mafia would bribe police to allow their bars to stay open). In the morning of June 28th,
1969, a police raid on the Inn turned violent after the unnecessary use of force against a patron following ID’ing and frisking of many patrons who did not adhere to gender expectations.
As the first large American social mobilization for LGBT equality, Stonewall served as a catalyst for the inclusion of people who do not prescribe to heteronormative structures. The six days of protests showed existing institutions that they could no longer ignore or “otherize” LGBT people, and forced social institutions to reckon with existence outside the binary. Initial struggles inside the movement for the acceptance of transgender and non-binary advocates spoke bounds about the distance still needed for society as a whole to reckon with the binary, but Stonewall still provided a place of unity and platform for the many LGBT individuals in the US.
Turning Point (1970-Present) Legal Advancements and Setbacks
A longtime athlete and professional ophthalmologist, Renee Richards fought for the ability for transgender women to compete in the 1976 U.S Tennis Open Women's Section without taking a genetic test(Barr Body Test) to prove her gender. Her lawsuit against the tournament helped codify legal acknowledgement of transgender people as their identified gender with gender-based human rights protections against discrimination.
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“When an individual such as plaintiff, a successful physician, a husband and father, finds it necessary for his own mental sanity to undergo a sex reassignment, the unfounded fears and misconceptions of defendants must give way to the overwhelming medical evidence that this person is now female.” [9]
Since Stonewall, there has been a growing realization in American society of the need to reexamine the way gender as a concept is approached. While Native American tribes always had vocabulary and knowledge of the existence of up to 12 genders, the term "two-spirit" came into circulation in 1990 as a way to reclaim precolonial gender understanding. As a concept existing entirely outside of the concept of gender, "two-spirit" people function as spiritual figures and community mediators. [10][11]
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Five years later, the term "genderqueer" was coined as a descriptor term for people whose gender expression deviates from strictly binary terms. Similar to the understanding of "transgender" as transcending gender norms, genderqueer people do not identify within gendered expectations. [12]
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Legal Advancements and Setbacks
In 2002, Gwen Arujo, a transgender teen, was violently murdered by a man she met at a party because of her gender identity. [13] In his criminal trial, the perpetrator used the Trans/Gay Panic Defense, "a criminal defense strategy in which a male defendant charged with murdering a transgender female victim will claim that the discovery that the victim was biologically male was so upsetting that he panicked and lost his self control." [14] He, along with two accomplices, were found not guilty of first-degree murder or hate crime enhancement, with the jury finding that the "impulse" defense called for second degree charges, despite evidence of premeditation. The Trans/Gay Panic Defense is still heard in courts to this day.
In 2021, Admiral Rachel L. Levine, MD, was nominated to serve as Assistant Secretary for Health, making her the first openly transgender person to hold a Senate-confirmed office, first "out" transgender four-star Admiral in the Commissioned Corps, and first female four-star Admiral of the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. [15][16]
Medical Acknowledgement and Treatment Approach Development
""Gender Identity Disorder can be distinguished from simple nonconformity to stereotypical sex-role behavior by the extent and pervasiveness of the cross-gender wishes, interests, and activities. This disorder is not meant to describe a child’s nonconformity to stereotypic sex-role behavior as, for example, in “tomboyishness” in girls or “sissyish” behavior in boys. Rather, it represents a profound disturbance of the individual’s sense of identity with regard to maleness or femaleness. ""
The above quote, taken from the DSM-4, reflected then-consensus among the medical community that gender dysphoria is a "disturbance of... identity", rather than a separation of biological sex and gender.
In the 2013 publication of the DSM-5, the main handbook for the diagnosis and treatment of mental health disorders, the term "gender identity disorder" was taken out of use in favor of "gender dysphoria", signifying a growing understanding the psychological field that the experiences of non-binary, transgender, and genderqueer people are valid and not dysfunctional. [17][18]
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