T-Mak World speaks with this trailblazer on the duality of her former life and the highs, hindrances and hopes she now faces as an advocate while seeking life, liberty and her pursuit of happiness as a proud transgender woman.
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By all outward appearances Christopher Beck the highly decorated 20 year veteran of the Navy SEALs and father of two was living the American Dream. His repressed reality would only come to fruition after retiring from the Navy in 2011 and finally accepting his true self. Now as Kristin Beck we see the growth, fortitude and very public persona of a transgender advocate and activist fighting to break down barriers while finding her piece of the American Dream.
April 2nd, 2015
T-Mak World: Kristin, welcome to Toronto. After screening your compelling 2014 documentary, Lady Valor The Kristin Beck Story at this year’s Human Rights Watch Film Festival it is evident you have lived a complicated yet fulfilling life to date so let’s begin with your early years. Growing up in Wellsville, New York seemed idyllic in a Normal Rockwell sort of way. What was life like in The Beck household and what were your career aspirations as you got older?
Kristin Beck: Life in our house was hectic. There were five kids and my parents in a three-bedroom house with one bathroom and a black and white television. We would sit in the family room at night and watch The Waltons or a similar show. We watched one show a night and then homework or bed. I had three sisters and a brother; we were all very close in age except our youngest sister. We played or were doing chores outside every day until dark. We ate dinner at the family table every night. My manners weren’t always the best and my dad would often scold me; finally he gave up and made sure that a huge flower setting blocked his view of me eating. I might have been doing a bit extra just being the defiant young kid that I was. I was the wild child and got in the most trouble, wrecking my bicycle or riding the horses too far from home and only returning home late into the night. At one point I brought a motorcycle home of which my mother said I would not live under her roof with a motorcycle. I moved out into the woods and built a lean too. I lived there for a few months, until my father came and brought me home and allowed me to keep the motorcycle. It was somewhat like that Norman Rockwell house you may imagine, but there was always a bit of chaos to it. Life in our family is still a wild ride, but we always return to each other and offer our support in any way possible. I love my family.
T-Mak World: The strong family foundation in your early years becomes self-evident through home movie sequences and more recently on screen with the lively banter of your father Tord and sibs Gardner and Liz. Yet your documentary alludes to other family members who did not participate. Shed some light into where things are on that front today?
Kristin Beck: My family lives mostly in Southern Maryland nowadays. We see each other often and have family dinners; the banter continues with more of a concentration on our children or how we are going to retire back out in the country.
T-Mak World: Lady Valor takes us on an emotional rollercoaster as we see you struggling with the distance that still exists between you and your ex-wife and boys. Your interaction and connection with Travis and Jyl Lively’s kids is truly genuine. How are things with your ex-wife and the boys today?
Kristin Beck: I try to call my kids whenever possible. This was a weekly call, which fell off to a monthly call and has gotten less and less as time goes on. They are teenagers and live a life a thousand miles away from me. They are on the phone only because their mother asks them to speak to me. It was one-word answers and a constant struggle to talk on both ends of the phone. It breaks me up every time I speak to them. At one point they just didn’t want to answer the phone when I called, so I kind of gave up for a while. I am not sure where this is going. The only person they know is that angry, bearded SEAL team guy who was easily angered and punched the walls. I hope this has a happy ending; they haven’t even met me yet in their entire lives, and I am not sure if they ever will. I pray every day for them and hope they are happy.
T-Mak World: You’ve had a highly decorated career with the Navy SEALs receiving meritorious honours such as the Bronze Star and Purple Heart for your courage and heroism. What was the impetus for joining the SEALs and how did you reconcile this storied male institution with your transgender leanings?
Kristin Beck: I joined the SEALs like any other person that joins. It is the toughest of the tough and a storied tradition of service and sacrifice to our country’s freedom and liberties. I joined to serve my country and never really thought about transgender being part of my life in those days. I am an American and wished only to serve. I received a few awards over the years, but there are many other veterans that have done far more than me. I did my duty and worked hard. I paid a price to our country, and there are many others who paid the ultimate price with their lives. I will not forget and I will continue to serve.
T-Mak World: With the time constraints of documentary filmmaking I am sure there were many stories you wanted to include in the final edit that didn’t make the final cut. Could you expand on one of the hardships you faced as a transgender woman and how this affected you moving forward?
Kristin Beck: I wish I never wrote the book “Warrior Princess”. I wish I never met that publisher, as she stole my life story and is now banking the rewards of my life. That book has brought me nothing but pain and has incurred thousands in debt that I may never recover. That book was written in the blood of my life and was stolen from me when I first became public; at a time when I was losing my job and family and going through so much turmoil that I was lost and alone. The publisher came into my life and preyed upon my weakness of spirit in those moments. That publisher knew me for a few days and took my life. I wish so much to just be free of that book to end the slavery and constant torment and abuse from that publisher. I HATE that book “Warrior Princess” and its lies, and I nearly ended my own life due to that psychologist who published it. I hate that book. I wanted to tell my story truthfully. The film “Lady Valor” does this where the book “Warrior Princess” failed, and if my story can save one life or educate a bully to curb their ignorance then I have done what I intended.
T-Mak World: Conversely, there must have been some life affirming experiences in your many travels across America that also didn’t make the cut. Could you discuss one of these experiences and what impact it has had on you today?
Kristin Beck: The film covers a few months of my life with old footage from the military or growing up. There were a few times while driving around in the RV when I would dive into my philosophy and my spiritual journey. I am very spiritual and am learning to bring peace into my life and that journey; the search for peace is much more dramatic than any physical change in my life.
T-Mak World: Recently, U.S. Defence Secretary Ash Carter had received pushback from senior military leaders on whether the pentagon should lift its ban on transgender people serving in the armed forces. For this ban to be lifted what do you feel needs to happen within the U.S. Armed Forces in order for transgender people to serve equally?
Kristin Beck: I worked for Ashton Carter when he was in acquisition in the Pentagon. I came out into the public as transgender and he was my boss’s boss. The Pentagon and many leaders including Ashton Carter supported me as transgender and I continued in my job. Eventually the contract that I supported ended, but the entire time they treated me with dignity and respect. The pushback he is receiving from other leaders in the Pentagon is based upon fear and ignorance. If the leaders in the Pentagon would take a look at Australia, or one of the other 13 countries around the world that already accept open service for transgender people, then maybe that ignorance and fear would diminish.
T-Mak World: Lady Valor The Kristen Beck Story opens with an informal yet impassioned gathering at the Southern Comfort Conference. Kristin, can you give us some insight into the Southern Comfort Conference and how you got involved?
Kristin Beck: Southern Comfort is one of a dozen conferences around the country that people can attend and learn who they are and in turn support one another. Even among us, there is still quite a bit of mystery and education that must occur. I am learning every day and enjoy meeting people who have greater and diverse experiences beyond my own.
T-Mak World: With all the barriers you have confronted in both public and private life I never pegged you as a politico, and yet here you are planning a run for Congress in 2016. What is the platform you’re running on and if elected how you would advocate on behalf of the transgender community?
Kristin Beck: I am NOT running as a transgender person. I am running as an American. I am a veteran who has served for 20 years and I wish to continue this service. Yes, I have had a lot of barriers and setbacks and I have been knocked down and gone through hardships. But you name one “professional politician”, especially the incumbent I am running against, who really can relate to the American people more than me. The incumbent I am running against has been a professional politician since 1976. How does he represent anyone living in today’s world or even understand beyond theory what it means to be homeless, unemployed, rejected, or foreclosed upon, or understand the bigotry and prejudice against a minority or any other life lessons I have endured? I am an American citizen; the incumbent I am running against is a professional politician in an expensive suit.
T-Mak World: With the recent Zeitgeist of Hollywood narratives like Transparent, Glee, Orange is the New Black and The L Word all portraying fully form trans characters and issues to mainstream audiences, has this helped you in your advocacy to eradicate transphobia and if so how?
Kristin Beck: All of these shows are Hollywood portrayals of people with actresses, actors or drag queens on a stage. This Hollywood world is not real life. It has done nothing for the world that I live in every day. Most of us don’t pass in the world and glide through life. I am not beautiful and rich like all of the popular people you are speaking of and a person like me and many others have to endure the looks and the bigotry sometimes ending in violence against us for our appearance. I am a regular girl who cannot afford the surgeries on my face or body to make me a cover girl. I am just like any other woman who works every day and lives paycheck to paycheck, looking in the mirror wishing so many things were different. I am not one of the Barbie dolls on a stage that you speak of… I am a person who welds the steel and digs the ditches. I am not glamour or living a fake life; I am working every day and sometimes living off Campbell’s Soup. Any Zeitgeist has a beginning, and there wasn’t any of this current media hype, or television shows, that’s in the limelight today — and it is too bad that we are forgetting about Albert Cashier and so many others. It is too bad that only a few people are becoming millionaires off the backs of the oppressed.
T-Mak World: For all you have been through and all the lives you have touched along the way, besides your Congressional Bid in 2016, what else is on the docket for Kristin Beck?
Kristin Beck: I have done a few things and hopefully none of the death threats against me catch up. I hope I can continue my service to the American people, and maybe bring some peace to the working folks who continue to work and are normally just forgotten. I will never forget where I came from and who I am. I am an American and a fighter, and I will live free and find some happiness. I am not transgender… I am a human just like you.
T-Mak World: Kristin, Thank You for taking the time to speak with T-Mak World and add the vital nuances to your life story that was not captured on film. Spreading words of tolerance and acceptance for all in a world so socially divisive was a refreshing respite. Your award winning and affecting documentary will continue to change lives and educate the uninitiated.
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