Comments on: Barton: Gender bending honorable during Revolutionary War

By: Emily K

Emily K — Wed, 30 May 2018 19:22:44 +0000

I remember reading about this woman and her brave turn in the army in 4th grade. FOURTH GRADE. Oh an impressionable child reading about a cross-dresser! heaven for-fend!
actually, as an ardent tomboy – and very much a girl seeking to be “one of the guys” – this story struck a chord with me. I remember feeling a quiet triumph in my heart after reading about this heroine. There were people in history like me; I had someone to look up to.
Yes, this is the kind of “indoctrination” that occurs when you let kids learn about this kind of thing – it gives the opportunity for a child to love his or herself a little more.

By: Lynn David

Lynn David — Wed, 30 May 2018 19:22:44 +0000

It should have set a precedent….

By: Mary

Mary — Wed, 30 May 2018 18:18:21 +0000

it gives the opportunity for a child to love his or herself a little more.

Or the idea that women can participate in more than just teaching and housework.

By: Zoe Brain

Zoe Brain — Wed, 30 May 2018 18:18:21 +0000

Change is not always progress; rights can be, and have been, withdrawn unless shored up with something stronger than regulation.
Certainly Trans people had far more legal rights in 1970 than they do today in most places. Tennessee is just the latest jurisdiction to remove existing protections from Intersexed and Trans people in State Law – and in the same bill, made it illegal for cities and counties to give them the human rights they’d won so far at the local level.
It’s not certain, but it looks like the Judge’s ruling in the Araguz case in Texas means that Trans and Intersexed people will be forbidden from marrying anyone of either sex henceforth, and all such existing marriages are voided.
The theory *seems* to be – as the ruling hasn’t been published – that God ordained that men have 46,XY chromosomes at birth, and women 46,XX ones, in accordance with the ruling in Littleton v. Prange (9 S.W.3d 223 (Tex. App. 1999), cert. denied, 531 U.S. 872 (2000)) . Neither genitalia at birth, genitalia afterwards, birth certificates, nor any other documentation over-rules God’s Law.
So this person is male, as is the child they gave birth to:

A 46,XY mother who developed as a normal woman underwent spontaneous puberty, reached menarche, menstruated regularly, experienced two unassisted pregnancies, and gave birth to a 46,XY daughter with complete gonadal dysgenesis.

— J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2008 Jan;93(1):182-9
Because 1 person in 485 or so has neither pure XX nor pure XY chromosomes, they are neither men nor women, so constitutionally prohibited from marriage, and their existing marriages void. In practice, this will only come up during divorce or insurance cases, otherwise those marriages while void would not be challenged. This will affect 0.5-1% of existing marriages.
Because they would be unable to provide the documentation required to prove they’re not entering a same-sex marriage, since they’ve had their birth certificates corrected, Transsexuals would also be prohibited from marrying anyone of either sex in Texas.

By: Lynn David

Lynn David — Tue, 31 May 2011 17:41:20 +0000

Speaking of gender bending, the WACS (then the Women’s Army Corp) and the WAVES (Women in the Navy) attempted to recruit me out of high school. Both of them sent me letters pointing out that I might be able to go to college in a technical/scientific field on their dime after induction.
Who knows it might have been a great place for a gay male in 1972.
But not now.