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Elisa Rae Shupe

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Elisa Rae Shupe
Shupe holding a transgender flag, 2016
Born
James Clifford Shupe

(1963-08-10)August 10, 1963
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Died(2025-01-27)January 27, 2025
Military career
Allegiance United States
BranchUnited States Army
Service years1982–2000
RankSergeant First Class
Awards
Children1

Elisa Rae Shupe[2] (formerly Jamie Shupe; born James Clifford Shupe) was a retired United States Army soldier who in 2016 became the first person in the United States to obtain legal recognition of a non-binary gender. In 2019, she released a statement explaining that she had "returned to [her] male birth sex."[3] In 2022, she published a statement reclaiming her trans identity and condemning the anti-trans movement due to her story being used to push conversion therapy.[4][5][6]

Early life

Assigned male at birth, Shupe was born on August 10, 1963 in Washington, D.C. and grew up in southern Maryland with seven siblings.[7][8][9] She was sexually abused by a relative when she was in elementary school, and her mother physically abused her for behaving like a "sissy" as a young teen.[1][7] Shupe scored unusually high on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery and entered the armed forces after graduating high school.[7][10]

Military service

Shupe began serving in the U.S. Army before the enactment of "Don't ask, don't tell".[1] During her eighteen years of service, she was prevented from exploring her gender identity and sexual orientation and was often the target of homophobic comments.[1][7] Shupe retired in 2000 as a sergeant first class with a number of military decorations.[1]

Gender exploration

Toward the end of her military service, Shupe's gender dysphoria began intensifying, and she started experimenting with wearing women's clothing at home.[10] After retiring, she moved to Pittsburgh with her wife and began living as a trans woman in 2013.[1][10] She chose the gender-neutral first name "Jamie" and convinced the Army to change her sex marker to female on military records.[9][11]

In June 2016, Shupe successfully petitioned a Multnomah County, Oregon, court to change her sex designation to non-binary, in the first legal recognition of a non-binary gender in the United States.[8][11] That November, she was issued a birth certificate in Washington, D.C., with a sex marker of "unknown."[9] Lambda Legal later cited Shupe's petition as a legal precedent for non-binary gender markers in the passport lawsuit Zzyym v. Pompeo.[12] San Diego Gay and Lesbian News argued that her case was a "significant victory for the trans community".[13]

Shupe critiqued gender-affirming surgery, cautioning against what she said were high complication rates.[14] She also expressed opposition to transgender people serving in the military.[15]

In January 2019, Shupe announced that she no longer identified as non-binary and was returning to identifying as male.[3] Shupe expressed an intention to de-transition in an essay in a conservative publication, The Daily Signal. The essay went viral among opponents of transgender rights. Shupe spoke at a Family Policy Alliance event, and was then invited to a secretive group of anti-transgender-rights politicians led by Fred Deutsch. Mentally unwell at the time, with a 100 percent disability rating and diagnoses of C-PTSD and borderline personality disorder, Shupe eventually felt exploited by the conservative groups.[16][17]

In 2021, she began using the name "Lisa Shupe", and in 2022 published a statement that during her detransition she helped sell conversion therapy to the public while privately self-medicating with estrogen, which resulted in a life-threatening blood clot. She stated: "I also authored this to hopefully prevent these groups from further using me as a pawn in their vicious war, legislative and otherwise, against the transgender community. For the record, I have formally renounced my previous ties and allegiance to radical and gender-critical feminists, conservatives, and faith-based groups."[4] Shortly after in 2022, she received a legal name change to "Elisa Rae Shupe".[2]

In March 2023, Shupe leaked over 2,600 pages of emails, spanning a period from 2017 to 2023, between her and a group of what Mother Jones calls "representatives of a network of activists and organizations at the forefront of the anti-trans movement".[5][6][18]

In 2023, Shupe self-published an autofiction novel titled "AI Machinations: Tangled Webs and Typed Words" that was extensively written using ChatGPT artificial intelligence software.[19]

Upon initial submission of her copyright application, the US Copyright Office (USCO) declined to register her work as their policy does not extend copyright protection to AI-generated content. Subsequently, Shupe sought an appeal, contending that she should be afforded copyright protection under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) on the basis that she used ChatGPT as an assistive technology due to her cognitive disabilities. The appeal further asserted that she should be granted copyright for the selection, coordination, and arrangement of the AI-generated text.[19]

As a result of the appeal, the USCO reversed its initial decision and granted Shupe a limited copyright registration. The USCO acknowledged Shupe as the author of the "selection, coordination, and arrangement of text generated by artificial intelligence,"[20] yet did not extend copyright protection to the actual sentences and paragraphs themselves. This effectively allows Shupe to prevent the unauthorized reproduction of the entirety of the book.[19]

The case has attracted commentary from observers who highlight the difficulties faced by the USCO in determining how to handle copyrights for works that incorporate AI.[19]

Personal life

Shupe met her future wife, Sandy, while stationed at Fort Knox.[9] The two married in 1987[7] and have one daughter.[8]

Death

In February 2025, it was reported that Shupe had died on January 27, 2025.[21][better source needed]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Miner, Colin (June 12, 2016). "Military Veteran Says 'Jamie' is Neither Male Nor Female". Portland, OR Patch. Patch. Archived from the original on June 13, 2016. Retrieved March 18, 2019.
  2. ^ a b Shupe, Elisa (March 30, 2022). "Elisa Rae Shupe Name Change: It's Official!". Elisa Shupe. Archived from the original on April 6, 2022. Retrieved April 2, 2022.
  3. ^ a b Dowell, Rosemarie (January 20, 2020). "Ocala man blasts gender identity as 'sham' after reclaiming male birth status". Ocala-News.com. Archived from the original on March 3, 2022.
  4. ^ a b Shupe, Elisa (March 3, 2022). "Elisa Shupe: Setting The Record Straight". Elisa Shupe. WordPress. Archived from the original on December 29, 2022. Retrieved April 2, 2022.
  5. ^ a b Pauly, Madison. "Inside the secret working group that helped push anti-trans laws across the country". Mother Jones. Retrieved March 9, 2023.
  6. ^ a b Jude Ellison S. Doyle (March 15, 2023). "The making of a detransitioner". Xtra Magazine. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
  7. ^ a b c d e O'Hara, Mary Emily (July 23, 2016). "Why can't the nation's first legally nonbinary person get an ID?". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on July 26, 2016. Retrieved November 23, 2018.
  8. ^ a b c Dake, Lauren (June 16, 2016). "Jamie Shupe becomes first legally non-binary person in the US". The Guardian. Archived from the original on June 16, 2016. Retrieved November 22, 2018.
  9. ^ a b c d Woodstock, Molly (March 10, 2017). "Male? Female? Jamie Shupe Battles for a Third Option". Portland Monthly. Archived from the original on March 4, 2022. Retrieved March 17, 2019.
  10. ^ a b c Segal, Corinne (August 21, 2016). "The complications of ID for non-binary people — and how it could change soon". PBS News. Retrieved February 8, 2025.
  11. ^ a b Mele, Christopher (June 13, 2016). "Oregon Court Allows a Person to Choose Neither Sex". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 13, 2016. Retrieved November 22, 2018.
  12. ^ "Case: Zzyym v. Pompeo (formerly Zzyym v. Tillerson & Zzyym v. Kerry) Plaintiff's Reply Brief". Lambda Legal. June 15, 2016. Archived from the original on August 15, 2022. Retrieved November 23, 2018.
  13. ^ Hubbard, Thomas M. (October 6, 2022). "What Is Non Gender Queer". San Diego Gay and Lesbian News. Archived from the original on December 30, 2022. Retrieved December 30, 2022.
  14. ^ Dorman, Sam (November 17, 2018). "Some Veterans Call for Taxpayer-Funded Gender Surgery — This Fmr Army Sergeant Tried Transitioning and Disagrees". IJR. Archived from the original on November 23, 2018. Retrieved November 23, 2018.
  15. ^ Foden-Vencil, Kristian (July 26, 2017). "Oregon's Transgender Population Reacts To Trump's Military Ban". Oregon Public Broadcasting. Archived from the original on December 18, 2022. Retrieved March 18, 2019.
  16. ^ Newton, Jacob (March 13, 2023). "'Their goal was to inflict maximum harm': Behind the scenes of the anti-trans movement". KELOLAND Local News and Weather.
  17. ^ Parks, Casey (December 27, 2023). "Her story fueled anti-trans bills. Now, she's fighting them". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 22, 2024.
  18. ^ Astor, Maggie (May 16, 2023). "How a Few Stories of Regret Fuel the Push to Restrict Gender Transition Care". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 12, 2025 – via NYTimes.com.
  19. ^ a b c d Knibbs, Kate (April 17, 2024). "How One Author Pushed the Limits of AI Copyright". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved August 22, 2024.
  20. ^ "Detailed Record View, Registration record TX0009377452, Copyright Catalog". Copyright Public Records System (CPRS), U.S. Copyright Office (USCO). Retrieved August 22, 2024.
  21. ^ Kerr, Sue (February 14, 2025). "I Knew Elisa Rae Shupe (1963-2025) and She Deserved Better". Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondence.
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