OutServe Magazine Praises Memoir of Transgender Navy SEAL

This past weekend, Kristin Beck (formerly Chris Beck) released a memoir entitled Warrior Princess: A U.S. Navy SEAL’s Journey to Coming Out as Transgender. Beck was a member of the decorated SEAL Team 6, served 20 years in the Navy, and began her transition in 2011. The book is a riveting account of both her experience in the military and her process as coming out as transgender.

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Basic Training for Your Money

Read It or Not with Faith
Dollars and Uncommon Sense; Basic Training for Your Money

By Faith Dougherty

I can sum up my response to Steve Repak’s, Dollars and Uncommon Sense; Basic Training for Your Money in one syllable: duh. There are no secret formulas or shortcuts provided by Repak, just common sense advice and his own professional and life Read More

Our Review

The Beginning and Evolution of The End of “Don’t, Ask Don’t Tell”

How did an anthology about the impact of the DADT repeal get published by a Marine Corps that had publicly urged Congress not to end the law?

By J. Ford Huffman and Tammy S. Schultz

Out of Step

“Out of Step” is the memoir of J. Lee Watton, a young woman from New Jersey enlisting in the Navy in 1965. Trained as a WAVE (an acronym for Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Services) at a since-decommissioned base in Bainbridge, Md., Watton was forced out of the military after a brief time because she was a “suspected homosexual.”Read More

One Battle at a Time

by Mike Yost

WINTER, 2000
An airman I worked with at Hill Air Force Base asked me one night, “what’s wrong?” For almost a year, when I wasn’t trying to act straight, I was brooding, and he had finally noticed. I worked hard at appearing straight. Went to strip clubs. Nodded my head when someone said, “she’s hot!” Talked about boobs. No one ever asked why I never had a girlfriend. Why I never went on dates. They only wondered why I was so aloof. He asked again. My mind was racing. He knows, I thought. He knows! Panic. The words formed in my mind and landed on my tongue, knocking at the back of my teeth: I’m gay. Read More

Our Time: Breaking the Silence of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” – the book

The publication of OUR TIME: BREAKING THE SILENCE OF “DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL” (The Penguin Press / $24.95 hardcover), edited by Josh Seefried, co-founder and co-director of OutServe, coincides with the repeal of DADT and marks the end of more than a decade of silence, giving voice to the LGBT men and women who served under its policy. The book is a compilation of short first-person essays, written primarily by active duty service members, by those discharged under the policy and by their supporters. It details the hardships faced by soldiers, families and partners, the pain of the choice between military and self, and exemplifies humanity at its very best — leaders who support their comrades, friendships forged and minds opened. Throughout, we are reminded of the bravery and selflessness of the men and women who choose to serve our country and defend our liberties while their own freedom is withheld.
A short excerpt from the book’s introduction follows: Read More