After 20 years in the military and as part of the SEAL unit that went on to kill Osama bin Laden, Kristen Beck has come out as transgender in a new memoir, "Warrior Princess."
The book, to be published Tuesday according to The Atlantic, tells how Beck finally decided to transition to female after retiring from the Navy in 2011.
What makes this story especially important is that the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell does not include allowing openly transgender people to serve in the military. But when a soldier in the elite, and tough, Navy SEALs comes out, people have to listen. And it appears fellow soldiers are on board.
Beck said the news of her being transgender was greeted warmly by her fellow SEAL soldiers:
Soon, the responses from SEALs stationed all around the world suddenly started pouring in: "Brother, I am with you ... being a SEAL is hard, this looks harder. Peace" * "I can't say I understand the decision but I respect the courage. Peace and happiness be upon you...Jim" * " ... I just wanted to drop you a note and tell you that Kris has all the support and respect from me that Chris had ... and quite possibly more. While I'm definitely surprised, I'm also in amazement at the strength you possess and the courage necessary to combat the strangers and 'friends' that I'm guessing have reared their ugly heads prior to and since your announcement. ..."
It’s hard to believe that such a funny book would stir up any controversy, but author Elena Azzoni has managed it with her new memoir, “A Year Straight: Confessions of a Boy-Crazy Lesbian Beauty Queen.”
Penned by a “Miss Lez” pageant winner who then got the hots for her male yoga teacher, the book is full of humor, observations about dating both genders, poetic moments and a conclusion that any reader will know isn’t really going to be the end of the story. The Georgia Voice spoke with Azzoni about her book, the controversy and sexual fluidity.
'Big Sex, Little Death' captures the life of radical, sex positive feminist
Susie Bright is grateful President Barack Obama is not in Atlanta today. He's been making the same stops as her book tour for her memoir "Big Sex, Little Death" and wreaking all kinds of havoc.
"He's been stalking my tour. Holding up my plane, gridlock on the roads. It's been a mess," she says with a sigh.
Bright, famously known as "Susie Sexpert" from her days as editor of "On Our Backs," the feminist lesbian porn magazine, stops in at Outwrite Bookstore & Coffeehouse today to read from her new memoir. This memoir differs from other autobiographical books Bright has written because it casts a long glance back over her life instead of writing about the here and now.
In fact, while writing "Big Sex, Little Death" over the past few years, Bright said she relived moments even more clearly than when they occurred.
There’s a fine line between “want” and “need.”
You didn’t need another holiday cookie, chocolate-dipped goodie, or brownie hiding beneath powdered sugar. And definitely, you didn’t need the calories.
But oh, you wanted them. So imagine denying yourself those and almost all other foods. Imagine living on 300 calories a day, then read “Unbearable Lightness” by Portia de Rossi.