Monica Helms | |
|---|---|
 Monica Helms on June 26, 2015 | |
| Born | March 8, 1951 Sumter, South Carolina, United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation |
|
| Known for | |
| Political party | Democratic Party [1] |
| Spouse(s) | Darlene Darlington Wagner, PhD |
Monica F. Helms (born 8 March 1951) is an American transgender activist, author, and veteran of the United States Navy. She created the best-known transgender flag. [2]
Helms received a General AA Degree and an AA in Industrial Television from Glendale Community College in Arizona in 1987 and graduated from Chattahoochee Technical College in 2018 with an AA Degree in Television Production Technology. [3]
Helms served in the U.S. Navy from 1970 to 1978, and was assigned to two submarines: USS Francis Scott Key (1972–1976) and USS Flasher (1976–1978). [4] During her time in the Navy, Helms began dressing as a woman while based in Charleston, South Carolina and says in an interview it was the "deepest, darkest secret in [her] entire life". [5] She was reassigned to the San Francisco area in 1976, and said she "felt like [she] could be out in public as [herself]". [5]
Helms left the Navy in 1978, and joined her hometown's chapter of the United States Submarine Veterans, Inc. in 1996. [6] After transitioning, Helms reapplied in 1998 to the Phoenix chapter of the veteran's group with the name "Monica" and received considerable push-back, including being referred to a more generic veteran's group for women rather than the submarine specific group. Helms eventually prevailed after a few months and is the first trans woman to ever join the organization. [6]
Helms created a transgender pride flag in 1999, [7] [2] and it was first flown at a Pride Parade in Phoenix, Arizona in 2000. [8]
Helms founded the Transgender American Veterans Association (TAVA) in 2003, and remained president until 2013. On May 1, 2004, TAVA sponsored the first ever Transgender Veterans March to the Wall. Fifty trans veterans arrived in DC and visited the Vietnam Memorial to honor people they knew whose names are on The Wall. They also made history when they became the first openly transgender people to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns. They did it again in 2005. [4] Even now, Helms continues to advocate for transgender service members and veterans. She was elected as a delegate to the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston, Massachusetts. She was the first openly trans person elected to a DNC Convention from Georgia. [9]
Helms donated her original transgender pride flag to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, at the first ceremony honoring the addition of a collection of LGBT historical items at the Smithsonian on August 19, 2014. [10] [11]
In June 2019, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, an event widely considered a watershed moment in the modern LGBTQ rights movement, Queerty named her one of the Pride50 for "trailblazing individuals who actively ensure society remains moving towards equality, acceptance and dignity for all queer people". [12]
In 2019, Helms released an autobiography titled More than just a flag, detailing major events in her life from childhood, her career in the Navy and activism for the transgender community, published by MB Books. [13] [14]
USS Jimmy Carter (SSN-23) is the third and final Seawolf-class nuclear-powered fast-attack submarine in the United States Navy. Commissioned in 2005, she is named for the 39th president of the United States, Jimmy Carter, the only president to have qualified on submarines. The only submarine to be named for a living president, Jimmy Carter is also one of the few vessels, and only the third submarine of the US Navy, to be named for a living person. Extensively modified from the original design of her class, she is sometimes described as a subclass unto herself.
USS Flasher (SSN-613), a Permit-class submarine, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the flasher, a member of the fish family Lobotidae, which have an unusual placement of the second dorsal and anal fins, posteriorly located on the body, close to the tail.
USS Flasher (SS-249) was a Gato-class submarine which served in the Pacific during World War II. She received the Presidential Unit Citation and six battle stars, and sank 21 ships for a total of 100,231 tons of Japanese shipping, making her one of the most successful American submarines of the War. She was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the flasher.
The transgender flag, also called the transgender pride flag, is used by people, organizations and communities to represent pride, diversity, rights and/or remembrance within the transgender community. Its usage is similar to the original rainbow flag but specific to the transgender community.
Laverne Cox is an American actress and LGBT advocate. She rose to prominence with her role as Sophia Burset on the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black, becoming the first transgender person to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in an acting category, and the first to be nominated for an Emmy Award since composer Angela Morley in 1990. In 2015, she won a Daytime Emmy Award in Outstanding Special Class Special as executive producer for Laverne Cox Presents: The T Word, making her the first trans woman to win the award. In 2017, she became the first transgender person to play a transgender series regular on U.S. broadcast TV as Cameron Wirth on CBS's Doubt.
This article addresses the history of transgender people in the United States from prior to Western contact until the present. There are a few historical accounts of transgender people that have been present in the land now known as the United States at least since the early 1600s. Before Western contact, some Native American tribes had third gender people whose social roles varied from tribe to tribe. People dressing and living differently from the gender roles typical of their sex assigned at birth and contributing to various aspects of American history and culture have been documented from the 17th century to the present day. In the 20th and 21st centuries, advances in gender-affirming surgery as well as transgender activism have influenced transgender life and the popular perception of transgender people in the United States.
Jennifer Finney Boylan is an American author, transgender activist, professor at Barnard College, and a former contributing opinion writer for the New York Times. In December 2023, she became the president of PEN America, having previously been the vice president.
Honey Mahogany is an American activist, politician, drag performer, and singer. She first came to national attention on the fifth season of RuPaul's Drag Race, followed by releasing her debut EP Honey Love. She was instrumental in setting up The Transgender District in San Francisco, where she served as the first director. In 2024, Mahogany was appointed director of the San Francisco Office of Transgender Initiatives.
The Transgender American Veterans Association (TAVA) is an advocacy group for transgender veterans from the US military. The Don't ask don't tell policy did not apply to transgender members of the United States military. The group was founded in 2003 by a former Navy and US Army servicepersons.
Silas Howard is an American film and television director, writer, and actor. His first feature film By Hook or by Crook (2001) co-directed with Harry Dodge is a seminal trans masc feature. Howard earned an MFA in directing at UCLA and is a 2015 Guggenheim Fellow. He began directing episodes during the second season of Transparent, making him the show's first trans director.
Andrea Jenkins is an American politician, writer, performance artist, poet, and transgender activist. She is known for being the first Black openly transgender woman elected to public office in the United States, since January 2018 on the Minneapolis City Council and as the council's president from January 2022 to January 2024.
Monica Katrice Roberts was an African-American blogger, writer, and transgender rights advocate. She was the founding editor of TransGriot, a blog focusing on issues pertaining to trans women, particularly African-American and other women of color. Roberts' coverage of transgender homicide victims in the United States is credited for bringing national attention to the issue.
Angelica Ross is an American actress, businesswoman, and transgender rights advocate. A self-taught computer programmer, she went on to become founder and CEO of TransTech Social Enterprises, a firm that helps employ transgender people in the tech industry.
Trace Lysette is an American actress whose most notable roles include Shea in the television series Transparent (2014–2019) and Tracey in the feature film Hustlers (2019). As a trans actress, she also featured in the Netflix documentary Disclosure as herself.
Brian Michael Smith is an American actor and LGBT advocate. He is known for playing Paul Strickland in 9-1-1: Lone Star.
Indya Adrianna Moore is an American actor and model. They are known for playing the role of Angel Evangelista in the FX television series Pose. Time named them one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2019. Moore is transgender and non-binary, and uses they/them and she/her pronouns.
Jos Charles is a trans American poet, writer, translator, and editor. Her book feeld won the National Poetry Series and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. She is the founding editor of THEM, the first trans literary journal in the United States.
Arundhati Katju is a lawyer qualified to practice in India and New York. She has litigated many notable cases at the Supreme Court of India and the Delhi High Court, including the Section 377 case, the case of a trans man being illegally confined by his parents, the Augusta Westland bribery case, the 2G spectrum corruption case and the Jessica Lal murder case. Her law practice encompasses white-collar defence, general civil litigation, and public interest cases.
Tifanny Abreu is a Brazilian volleyball player. She was the first trans woman to play in the Brazilian Women's Volleyball Superliga.
Shawn Graham Skelly is a retired United States Navy officer, national security expert, and LGBT rights advocate who is serving as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Readiness. She is currently fulfilling the duties of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness since September 11, 2023.
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