Autumn Sandeen
FC1, United States Navy (1980-2000)
Raised in Los Angeles's San Fernando Valley, I was born in Northridge, California as the son of a motion picture/television industry costume supervisor and a homemaker. At fourteen a flashbulb seemed to go off in my head, and the reason I had felt "off" for most of my childhood became clear: my body was starting to develop in a way that didn't match my female gender. The discordant feelings I'd always felt for a short time became very lucid. However; the mantra at the time was that male-to-female transsexuals needed to be sexually attracted to men to be considered "true" transsexuals, so I was particularly confused that I felt female, but was nominally attracted to women...and not to men at all. Because I wasn't by the standards then considered a transsexual, I identified myself as a transvestite. I graduated high school in 1977 and seemed to drift a few years, identifying myself as an "ex-transvestite," with most of the trappings that apply these days to "ex-gays." The ex-gay movement just wasn't formed in the 70's like it is now.
I joined the US Navy in 1980 in the midst of a nationwide recession, and lied about my cross-dressing as a teen. They assigned me to the Fire Control Technician (Missiles) rating. (The rating title later reverted back to historic name "Fire Controlman," so my rating title changed to Fire Controlman with others in the service then in 1984.) I trained to work on the Mark 92 Gun and Missile Fire Control System, so since these systems were only on Fast Frigates and hydrofoils, I was assigned to a Guided Missile Fast Frigate. I served on two Guided Missile Fast Frigates [USS Mahlon S. Tisdale (FFG-27) and USS Ford (FFG-54)] as a Mark 92 technician. In 1991, I retrained as a Mark 15 Close-In Weapons System (CIWS) technician and served on another Fast Frigate [USS Gary (FFG-51)]. My service on the USS Gary was considered Persian Gulf War service, although the ground war had ended two months before I began serving in the Gulf. So, even though I'm considered a Persian Gulf War Veteran by the Navy and the Veterans Administration, I always make very clear to people that I never saw combat in The Gulf War. My last ship was the Third Fleet Command Ship [USS Coronado (AGF-11)], where I served from 1996 to 2000.
In late 1999/early 2000, I was sexually harassed by a subordinate and my Executive Officer (XO) for being perceived as an effeminate gay male. I had been married in 1983, but I separated from my ex just before I was assigned to the USS Coronado, and I "lost" the protection that marriage gave my significantly effeminate dress and body language. I tried, but I couldn't hide my female gender identity from my peers -- but my peers presumed I was gay because I acted effeminately as opposed to seeing me as a transsexual.
My subordinate and XO violated the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Pursue" policies that had been put in place a few years earlier, trying to initiate an investigation into my sexuality to see me discharged eight months prior to my scheduled retirement. Fortunately for me, I had been a sexual harassment instructor in the Navy for the seven years prior to these harassing incidents, so I knew how to counter the harassment. By filing appropriate paperwork, I managed not only to have the male-to-male sexual harassment stopped, but also managed to have both of them receive administrative actions against them for violating policy. Unfortunately, the punishments were extremely light; a verbal reprimand for my subordinate at an Article 15 hearing, and a service record entry made into the Executive Officer's record that he violated investigation policies.
I completed twenty years of service in September 2000, and retired as a Fire Controlman First Class. From my personal experience, I can say that the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Pursue, Don't Harass" policy impacts closeted transgender soldiers and sailors as well as gay ones, because effeminate behavior is perceived as stereotypical gay male behavior.
I followed the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" rules, but still I was sexually harassed. And in countering the harassment, I found it wasn't approached with the same importance of male-to-female sexual harassment. One particularly distressing part of my sexual harassment experience was that the Department of Defense was aware well before my experience that male-to-male sexual harassment was a serious issue – Pvt. Barry Winchell's killing occurred before I was harassed. The Department of Defense, to my knowledge, still doesn't teach in their sexual harassment training that male-to-male sexual harassment is as equally wrong as male-to-female sexual harassment.