Lucrecia Luciana Belmont served in the US Army for a little over five years from 2003-2008. It was before she was discharged that she began exploring her gender in 2007. She started experimenting off-duty with wearing women’s clothing. “Nobody knew, but I was more comfortable in that,” she said.

It was at this time, when she was 23, that she started getting over this feeling of “really trying to be a man”. In this video, Lucrecia describes a phase of the lives of some male to female trans people called “hyper-masculinity“.

“They attempt to be a man no matter what it takes.” — Lucrecia

In 2010, she says, she “fully realized” her identity was that of a woman’s and she fully came out to her friends and family. “I’ve been out full-time since [2010].” It was also this year that she went back to school as an artist.

“My identity did not change, only my name. I’m still the same person I was ten years ago.” — Lucrecia

Lucrecia received the official court order on July 30, 2015 which stated that her name change was legally valid. In her most recent involvement with the VA in Minneapolis, they refused to issue her a new ID card with a name that matched her new license. She uses this ID to get around town on city buses and risks a fine if her Veteran’s ID name doesn’t match the name on her MN State license.

“It could end up me being fined and having to fight that when all the VA has to do is give me a new ID.” — Lucrecia

It turns out that the discrimination that Lucrecia experienced is not even according to the standard policy of the VHA Directive 2013-0039 [see “Providing Health Care for Transgender & Intersex Veterans VHA Directive” pg. 2], which is effective until February 2018.