hmm..

the widely publicized beating death of Pfc. Barry Winchell at an Army base in Tennessee was initially portrayed as a "gay hate crime," both by gay activist groups and the mainstream media. However, Winchell's lover was not another man -- Winchell had never dated men -- but was a very pretty young transgender woman named Calpernia Addams. Callie was a performer in a "drag show" at a nightclub that soldiers frequented. Barry and Callie met there, began dating, and then fell deeply in love. Barry, who was a regular guy and who loved pretty women, fully accepted Callie as a woman in spite of her TG transition status. He was then beaten to death by another soldier in a burst of homophobic violence over his relationship with Callie. After this tragic event, the gay media referred to Callie as a "gay man" rather than a transgender woman, and she was deliberately kept on the sidelines to avoid having her status revealed. This aspect of the story was finally revealed in an article by reporter David France entitled "An Inconvenient Woman" in the New York Times Magazine on Sunday May 28, 2000.

Later, in the summer of 2002, Callie underwent SRS to complete her TS transition and is now the woman she always wanted to be. In 2003 a movie entitled "Soldier's Girl" , premiered at the Sundance Movie Festival, told the story of her love affair with Barry Winchell and of the tragic end of that affair. Calpernia has written a book Mark 247 about her life experiences, and she is also evolving a wonderfully supportive website for TG/TS people.


So it's all starting to link a little now. The death of Barry Winchell who was in the army.. Ian/Jan who was kicked out of the army for transitioning from male to female and the fact that most transexuals or 'curious' men join the army to supress their femenine feelings or to prove that they can be masculine?