Ms_Riley_Guprz

What is your opinion of Chess960 or other variations of the game? Which is your favorite, or which looks like the most promising for the future of chess?

In person, pretty good. Even some of the more conservatives ones made humorous attempts to ask me about my dress.

Anonymously and on social media, pretty horrible. Take all the worst comments you see here and multiple it by ten.

My transition was postponed actually until I left the military. I tried* starting as a cadet and that's what prompted the whole issue. It was my diagnosis of gender dysphoria that caused me to be [honorably] discharged.

Although to answer your question, no I would not have waited on coming out. I wanted my classmates to remember me by who I really am, for better or for worse. Had I hid, I would've come out cynical and depressed.

EDIT: * and by "tried as a cadet" I mean I tried to have it approved. I didn't start any hormones until I graduated.

I came out to myself junior year at West Point. Had I known before I came, I wouldn't have gone. Afterwards, knowing the outcome, I'd still would do the whole thing over again. West Point is an amazing opportunity no matter your background.

And I absolutely did not want to be discharged. When the issue of a medical waiver first came up, the superintendent offered to deny it for me, thereby giving me what cadets call the "golden handshake" - leaving the academy with no service obligation. I immediately turned him down. I legitimately wanted, and still do, to become an Air Defense Artillery officer. The decision was taken out of his hands at some point in March/April and the Pentagon decided to deny the waiver. I had the full support of the West Point chain of command and the post surgeon.

For most people, it doesn't - and shouldn't - matter.

It does matter to the teenage girl who's afraid to bring her girlfriend to prom; it matters to the trans guy who can't bring himself to tell his family about who he is. Seeing someone else that you can identify with for the first time is a huge thing. It tells people that they're not alone and that if they come out and/or do something great, that they too can do it. You don't have to care, because it shouldn't have to be a brave thing, but it is. For your part, just don't be the anti-hero to that kid's hero. Don't bring people down.

Additionally, the point of me doing this and the new stories is not that I graduated, but that I was denied something that I should have earned. Injustice anywhere should make you care.