Paula Neira not considered doing something besides being an officer in the US Navy and serving her country. She told her father,” I want to be part of that,” when she was nine years old and saw a Navy destroyer’s bow gliding through the calm waters of New York Harbor. “”
Neira later received a distinguished degree from the U. S. Naval Academy in 1985, and participate in Operation Desert Storm of the Gulf War as a floor battle officer. However, she claims that in 1991,” I made the hardest decision I’ve ever made with the 30-year drama of my existence playing out as planned.” I resigned from the Navy. “”
Neira, who was born a man, had much identified herself as female, but she kept that aspect of herself to herself in order to pursue her dream of serving in the military for her country. But as she got closer to 30, she was unable to keep lying. She describes the internal conflict she fought for years before choosing to have gender-affirmation surgery, saying,” I may serve my country or I may live an authentic lifestyle.”
Paula Neira is currently the program director for LGBTQ+ Equity and Education at Johns Hopkins Medicine, where she oversees initiatives to promote and reach health equity for people who are underrepresented in the fields of medicine, technology, care, and health treatment. Compared to the way she initially mapped out for herself and followed, her career is richer and more service-oriented. She claims that” through all of this, I’ve come to understand that my calling to function, my purpose, was much more profound and broad than simply being a Navy official.”
Now that she is an openly trans girl, Neira is reflecting on her upbringing, military career, and the work she has accomplished since as a nurse, lawyer, advocate for diversity in the workplace, as well as university administrator. She wants to share lessons on the damage that may result from unfair practices, guidelines, and belief systems while using her account to assist others who are struggling to live authentically. On Sunday night, MSNBC aired a new documentary about her called Serving in Secret: Love, Country, and Do n’t Ask, Never Tell. The Turning Point, a larger line created by Daily Show host Trevor Noah, examines important topics like human rights, civil rights protections, and politics.
Serving in Secret, which debuted earlier this month in Washington, D.C., at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center. C. tells the tale of Tom Carpenter, a Marine Corps pilot and student of the Naval Academy who contributed to the U.S.’s historic reform. S. From 1994 to 2011, military personnel were prohibited from serving openly as gay, lesbian, or bisexual men or women under the Do n’t Ask, Never Tell ( DADT ) policy. Neira took the initiative to overturn the policy, and the film includes some of her encounters.
When the military demanded that people lie and hide in the bedroom, how could it claim to be based on bravery and respect? ” Neira queries. It did n’t seem to add up. “”
a perspective that was ingrained in youth
Neira learned to value services and work above all else while growing up in Jersey City. In World War II, her father held the “lowest rate you can have in the Army,” or “E-1,” according to Neira. My father was the most proud E-1 you’ll ever meet and was always proud to have served his country, even though he did n’t have any ambitions to advance. “”
Neira’s parents at home emphasized the value of working difficult and giving up. She says,” If you’ve been blessed with talent and ability, you have an obligation to help others and be committed to anything greater than yourself. This is what my parents instilled in me.” This attitude was further drilled by the renowned Regis High School, an all-male Jesuit large school on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. The Jesuit college, which was based on the Ignatian theory of “men for people,” further rooted in Neira a desire to enlist in the Navy and live in service.
Neira knew she did n’t exactly fit the mold, but at the same time she embraced these ideals. I engaged in G. I. Growing up, Joes and I were n’t feminine, but I felt like I was unique in a way for which I lacked the words, she says.
She claims that when anchorman John Tesh told the tale of Renée Richards, a trans rugby player fighting for her right to compete in the 1976 U.S. Open the CBS News program, she experienced her lightbulb time. S.. Open. Neira claims,” That was the first time I heard the word” transsexual,” and it was then that I had a word to express how I felt about my identity.
Her mother, who found the idea repulsive, was the first person she told about her new knowledge. Neira says,” I discovered from my mother’s response that whatever I was doing at the time was wrong and not the right thing to get.” She buried her emotions and did n’t start to express them until years later because she had no one to turn to.
a conflict within
When Neira was given a place at the esteemed U. S. She was confident that she was making the right decision by establishing a career based on support and responsibility to the greater great at Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. But even as she earned her honours degree in 1985 and advanced through the rates to become a Navy officer, she was still struggling with an internal turmoil.
” Hey, who am I?” was the topic of an ongoing private conversation. Neira says. I’ve mastered the art of compartmentalizing things and declaring,” I’m not going to cope with this straight now.” I’ll simply disregard it. ”””
When a woman came out, the army would automatically transfer her. The Trump administration tried to reinstate the ban on transgender service in 2017, but this ban was only lifted in 2016. Neira describes her day spent weighing choices as saying,” I would stay on the shores outside of Charleston, South Carolina, where I lived, and weep as I watched boats coming and going.”
Therefore, on November, a moment Neira will never forget. She declined a chance to continue serving in the Navy in 1991, calling it” the most tragic choice I’ve ever made.”
This day,” when I told my daughter, she accepted and loved me but blamed herself, thinking she was to blame.” “”
changing her course
She struggled to find a purpose-driven career after leaving the Navy, but she remained steadfast in her conviction that she could do so as she started the cultural and clinical aspects of the gender-affirmation process. She initially attended medical school and held nursing positions in emergency care and pain resuscitation during her journey. There, she provided service to others in a setting resembling the military’s adrenaline-filled setting. However, she became aware of the potential power relationships between doctors and nurses as a result of her nursing career. Neira says,” I realized that midwives are frequently never given a seat at the table.” ” I wanted people to hear what I had to say. “”
Neira then enrolled in law school and began working as a staff attorney for the Modern Military Association of America, formerly known as the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network ( SLDN). Over time, she led efforts to end discriminatory policies and practices in the military, including the repeal of Do n’t Ask, Dont Tell, while serving on the board of directors of SLDN and as co-chair of its Military Advisory Committee.
The history of Do n’t Ask, Never Tell in the United States S.. Neira explains that the Revolutionary War was” when the first man was kicked out of the defense for being queer.” What follows are several versions of that unfair act, including the prohibition of trans people in the 1960s, the criminalization of homosexual behavior during the Great War, and the DADT act of the 1990s that resulted in about 14,000 individuals being discharged from service. “”
Neira refrained from participating in the protests when Congress decided to make Do n’t Ask, Dont Tell an official policy in 1993 while the Clinton administration was in office. She claims that “at the time, I was dealing with my own gender identity and did n’t want people to use me as a justification for their bigotry or to confuse that with sexual orientation, which is different.”
However, Neira was always aware that the plan was flawed and welcomed the opportunity to use her position at SLDN to help overturn it 17 years after, in 2010. The policy was supposed to mean that the military would stop conducting witch hunts and that gay people would n’t be harassed, but it was never put into practice, according to Neira. Some people came forward with statements that they deliberately shared, which is why they were expelled—often only after being threatened or questioned. “”
In essence, according to Neira, the coverage required people to” compromise their pride by either lying by mistake or payment in order to be able to serve their nation.” It’s improper to inquire of anyone that. “”
Training gained, goal cultivated
Neira claims that she remained near to her parents and yet cared for them as they passed away. She adds that she also learned how to create a home and help system made up of individuals who fully embrace her outside of her natural family.
It took time and had repercussions to get over the hurt and pain that hit her when she left the Navy. She claims that in the 1990s, one of my coping mechanisms was to let my body deteriorate so that I could n’t meet the requirements for military service. ” I put on weight and got type 2 diabetes.” It took me 27 years to give myself permission to obtain support dealing with the stress of the close of my naval job because the military culture views asking for help with mental or emotional issues as a failure. “”
Neira, who is 60 years old, is currently employed by Johns Hopkins Medicine, where she works to lessen health disparities and create policies and initiatives that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion. She does n’t just advocate for people who fit her demographics as a white transgender woman and her female partner. People believe that the fact that I am a part of the LGBTQ+ communities motivates me to do what I do, she claims. ” I do it for the vow I took when I was inducted into the Naval Academy and swore I would help, protect, and keep accurate faith and allegiance to the Constitution,” without sounding cheesy about it.
It violates the Constitution when people are unable to receive the health care they require and are denied evidence-based attention due to someone else’s ignorance, prejudice, or hatred. I vowed to take action in this situation. “”
Neira gives national lectures at Johns Hopkins on DEI-related subjects, such as the need to raise trans social awareness in the medical field. Neira says,” I make the point that we’re all made up of so many different aspects in my talks and interactions.” None of us are limited to one point. My gender identity and sexual orientation are just as significant to me as my gaze hue. They are a part of who I am. They are not denied by me. They do n’t make me feel bad. However, I am more than just those two points. “”
Neira formerly oversaw the scientific system at Hopkins, where she now serves as a contact to the Johns Hopkins Center for Transgender and Gender Expansive Health. With experts in plastic and reconstructive surgeries working with endocrinologists, dermatologists, mental health care providers, and other specialists to provide alternative treatment, the centre, which opened in 2017, offers gender-affirming care, including surgeries, across Johns Hopkins Medicine.
Neira is a historical figure as well. She was the first trans woman whose transfer documentation was changed by the Navy on its own initiative to reveal her real name in 2015. She graduated from a U.S. university for the first time in 2020. S.. company college accepted as a brother member of the American Academy of Nursing. In addition, she co-sponsored and gave the USNS Harvey Milk its name in 2021, making it the first ship in Navy history to bear the name of an openly LGBTQ+ person. In this case, it was the San Francisco politician and civil rights image Harvey dairy, “whose personal naval career was ended due to anti-gay animosity in the 1950s, and who was assassinated in 1978,” according to Neira.
Neira emerges as a deeply intelligent person who continues to carry out the work that initially drew her to the military 42 years after she first enrolled in the Naval Academy, despite traveling an unexpected way dotted with obstacles and hard-won victories. She claims,” My schedule was to serve in the Navy for 30 years—that was the film I was supposed to live.” But I’ve had the good fortune and blessing of discovering a purpose, giving up, and serving in ways I never could have imagined. “”
