James Shupe

Born male, Shupe grew up in southern Maryland as one of eight children.[4] He and his wife, Sandy, were married in 1987.[5] They have one daughter.[4] He served in the U.S. Army for 18 years, receiving a number of military decorations, and retired in 2000 as a sergeant first class.[1]

Shupe has written that he was physically and sexually abused by relatives during childhood.[6] He recalls his mother punishing him for behaving like a "sissy",[5] and says that he was denied the right to explore his gender expression or gender identity.[1] That suppression continued through his military career, which included periods before and during Don't ask, don't tell.[4][1] After he retired, Shupe began living as a transgender woman in 2013. He chose the gender-neutral first name "Jamie" and convinced the Army to change his sex marker to female on military records.[7][8]

In June 2016, Shupe successfully petitioned a Multnomah County, Oregon, court to change his sex designation to non-binary, in the first legal recognition of a non-binary gender in the United States.[7][4] That November, he was issued a birth certificate in Washington, D.C., with a sex marker of "unknown".[8] Lambda Legal later cited Shupe's petition as a legal precedent for non-binary gender markers in the passport lawsuit Zzyym v. Pompeo.[9]

Shupe is a critic of transgender surgeries, cautioning against what he says are high complication rates.[10] He has also expressed opposition to transgender people serving in the military.[11]

In 2018 Shupe and his wife moved to Ocala, Florida where Shupe says he feels safe and in a community that aligns well with his values.[12][13]

In January 2019, Shupe announced that he no longer identified as non-binary and was returning to identifying as male. He said that his original motivation for transition was autogynephilia and that he was experiencing symptoms of psychosis when he sought a non-binary sex marker.[6][14] In March, Shupe changed his first name back to James.[2]

In December of 2019, Shupe successfully petitioned the court which granted the "non-binary" gender designation to revert the sex listed on his birth certificate to "male." The petition filed by Shupe described the sex designation of non-binary as "psychologically harmful legal fiction."[15]