The writer and activist Jenny Boylan has referred to her as the “ transgender Betsy Ross.” So there was a certain irony when Helms woke up on the morning of July 26th, 2017 to see that Donald Trump, attempting to use Twitter as a space of policy making, had hastily announced a ban on transgender Americans in the armed services in “any capacity.” The president went on to tweet that transgender Americans were a “burden” on the military and counterproductive to military readiness. Helms has given much to her country, both through her military service and her contributions to the contemporary transgender rights movement. Reproductions of the flag now fly at Pride marches and protests through the country, with activists also adopting Helms’ blue, pink, and white color scheme on signs, banners, buttons, t-shirts, and other items as a representation of transgender equality. Helms’ “baby,” as she calls it, has become an American symbol and a piece of American History. The original flag was donated to the Smithsonian in August of 2014 as part of the museum’s special LGBT collection. The transgender pride flag made it’s debut in 2000 at a Phoenix, Arizona Pride parade, with Helms acting as a “ one-woman advertisement” for her fledgling design. “I say the rainbow flag is like the American flag: everybody’s underneath that, but each group, like each state, has their own individual flag.”
She beautifully describes the necessity of a transgender-specific flag with this comparison: While the activist Gilbert Baker created the rainbow flag in 1978 to encompass the diversity of what was then referred to simply as the “gay community,” Helms thought it necessary to have a flag that represented the particular struggles of transgender people. The pattern is such that no matter which way you fly it, it is always correct, signifying us finding correctness in our lives.” The stripe in the middle is white, for those who are intersex, transitioning, or consider themselves having a neutral or undefined gender. The stripes next to them are pink, the traditional color for baby girls. “The stripes at the top and bottom are light blue, the traditional color for baby boys. The flag consists of five stripes: a light blue stripe followed by a light pink stripe at the top and bottom, with a white stripe in the middle. As someone who had loyally and bravely served her country under the American flag, Helms was inspired to create a transgender flag in 1999 as a representation of transgender legitimacy and pride. She also co-founded the Transgender American Veterans Association in 2003. In 2000, Helms moved from Arizona to Atlanta, Georgia and got involved in activism, becoming the executive director of the Georgia transgender advocacy organization Trans=Action.
She began her medical transition in 1992 and started living as a woman full time in 1997. While Helms initially thought she might be a “cross-dresser,” it took her until 1987 to fully realize she was transgender. Military, the social atmosphere of San Francisco helped Helms to find herself, and she began to explore her identity as a transgender woman, dressing as a woman in public and going to gay clubs. Flasher and stationed in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1976, where she served until 1978. So I prayed to God to turn me into a girl.” Helms enlisted in 1970 and served on the submarine the U.S.S. “I was raised Catholic and you’re supposed to pray to God for things. Monica Helms was proud to serve her country in the United States Navy, but she was harboring, in her words, “ a deep, dark secret.” “Sometime around the age of 4 or 5, I knew something was different about me,” she said.
Trump’s decision to ban transgender Americans from the armed services via tweet.