Visible Man: Selective service

Early in January 2004, he reported that the number of active-duty soldiers had reached 500,000, despite the fact that Congress had already set a ceiling of 480,000 troops as the Army's manpower limit.

According to a report in the Los Angeles Times (by Esther Schrader, January 4, 2004), "Senior Army officials have been complaining for more than six months that the Army needs to grow to handle its burgeoning commitments in an age of global terrorism."

Are we close to reinstating a military draft? Who knows. Will FTMs be affected? We already are!

The question comes up regularly among FTMs who are between the ages of 18 and 26: Do I need to register for the military? If you are living as a male and listed as male with Social Security, the answer is YES, you must register. All young men of military service age are required to do this, and if you are attending college and hope to receive any federal grants or loan program assistance you will not be eligible if you have not dealt in some fashion with the military registration system.

Registration is not the same as being classified for service, though. If you are called into service because you registered, you would still have to be classified at that time -- and it is unlikely that the Armed Forces would want you if you were transsexual. The Israeli army has FTMs on active duty, but for young American transmen who would like to serve in the military, the sad news is our armed forces are not yet prepared for transpeople in service.

If you are over 26 years old, attending college as a male and applying for financial aid, your school may ask about your military status and whether you registered for the draft. You may also receive that question on a job application, especially if you are applying for a federal job. If you were born in 1959 or earlier, you can say you were not required to register or you were exempt, and it may never go any farther. If you were born after December 31, 1959 and did not register before you were 26, you WILL need to get a "status information letter" from the Selective Service to indicate why you were not required to register. Transsexual status is a legitimate reason for not registering.

You can get more information and find the Selective Service form to request a status letter at www.sss.gov/instructions.html. Instructions for transsexuals are listed under "Nonresident/Alien" (just another little hint that we are not considered "real"). According to the site, "you must indicate what gender you were born as, and attach documentation which indicates this as well." Do not send original documents, because nothing you submit will be returned to you. All you will get back from the Selective Service System is a status letter indicating you were not required to register for the draft.

Some FTMs have veteran status already, since they may have served while they were still in female bodies. And there are probably hundreds of transwomen who are veterans of military service. Many of them will gather on May 1, 2004 in Washington DC to connect with each other and march with the Transgender American Veterans Association to the Veteran's Wall, where they will hold a quiet memorial service without any political speeches. It will be a nonpolitical, nonprotest event, and all transgendered and transsexual veterans are welcome to attend. For more information go to www.geocities.com/tg_vet_march_to_the_wall/.

No matter how one feels about the present military efforts in the Middle East, it is impossible to deny the sacrifice made by all of our veterans of the Armed Forces. Our transgendered and transsexual veterans deserve our respect and support as they continue in their struggle to receive recognition and ongoing healthcare services and benefits equal to their nontrans comrades.