inspecting a truck is a routine task in
the military
and traditionally considered a man's job
anastasia beefong is transgender
she's been living as a woman for some
time and no longer
identifies as a man
beefong is responsible for 700 soldiers
in the bundesvara
she took the major step of coming out
after 20 years of military service
coming out as being transgender for me
wasn't very easy
transgender was something in the early
90s i was going to school
a topic that wasn't discussed anywhere
you couldn't google anything yet it was
something that was always
connected in my own feelings with shame
don't do that it's wrong
i don't think there was very much
acceptance in society in the 90s for
transgender people at all
back when bifong lived as a man she was
married to a woman
and led a seemingly ordinary life but
she felt tremendous emotional pain
because her male body simply wasn't
right for her
i probably looked for flight into a
typical male role the military probably
helped that in that sense as well to
perform
to male standards but my inner self was
always
crying after them yeah almost 20 years
of struggling
i was at a point in my life where my
emotional
stability my emotional well-being
well-being
was at a point where i said i don't want
to live this way anymore
bifung underwent sex change surgery
she continued in her old job after
coming out as a woman
putting on makeup is now part of her
everyday routine
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her second wife samantha whom she met
before
undergoing surgery has supported her
from the start
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i met anna as a woman already
and one can say she was just a woman
with a penis
so actually the same person stayed
and i knew that she wanted to get rid of
the pennies and i think when you love a
person
you support the person coming out as a
transgender woman wasn't a stumbling
block in her career even in the military
sergeant major ditma schroeder met
anastasia b
fong after her sex reassignment he says
the initial novelty quickly wore off
even as transgenderism became a hotly
debated issue worldwide
i just accept that people are the way
they are and that goes beyond
transgenderism i feel the same way about
other more everyday things like what
party they vote for
what make of car they like to take a
more run-of-the-mill example
you just have to accept people the way
they are
now anastasia bifong is climbing higher
up the career ladder
she'll become the head of a division in
the bundesvara cyber and information
domain service
in parallel to her military career it is
her mission to stand up for transgender
people in the german armed forces
promoting diversity and greater
tolerance for what is an unusual path
what i know from my experience is what
is definitely certain
if you are true to yourself and live
the way you are outwardly open you will
have a better life
i think my mom once said it she seems to
be finally happy
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