On April 3, Lieutenant Commander Blake Dremann spoke to Blackburn College students about his journey as a transgender soldier in the U.S. Navy. Dremann was invited to be this year’s guest speaker for the second annual Kathlene Eberle Memorial Speaker Series.
The Olin Lecture Hall was nearly full as Blackburn psychology professor Dr. Pamela Danker introduced Dremann. Danker stated, “Blake was selected because the theme of the Eberle Series is Human Rights.” He began the presentation by quoting various statistics about transgenders in the military, and then offered some personal background information. Dremann was born and raised in St. Louis and graduated from Ozark Christian College in 2003 with a bachelor’s degree in biblical literature. In his 11 years in the Navy he has been deployed 12 times and has been to 13 different countries. He is currently working as an intern at the Pentagon.
Dremann also spoke about how he was a part of helping the military repeal the transgender ban that has been in effect since 1961. According to the Palm Center, an independent research institute, the military enacted the ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ policy in 1993 which allowed gays in the military to serve silently. After its repeal in 2011, Dremann reported that he thought it would take at least 10 years to repeal the military’s transgender ban. He elaborated that it took less than four years to work with the military and finally end the ban in 2016.
After a tour in Afghanistan in 2010, and before Dremann began the medical process of changing genders, he was honored to become one of the first four women to be assigned to submarine duty. Upon reflection, Dremann spoke of the fear of inadequacy that he and the other women felt upon their first patrol on a submarine and stressed the power of perseverance.
He described the experience of being on long patrols and said that it felt as though time stopped, while the rest of the world moved forward.
In 2012, Dremann was invited to the White House Memorial Day breakfast where he met President Obama. He told students that “I stuck out like a sore thumb,” while pointing out that he was required to wear his female uniform along with the same shaved haircut he currently sports. It was around this time that Dremann struggled with his gender identity and sought out therapy. He also spoke about the experience of coming out to his family and about his parents’ fear that it would negatively affect his military career.
Eventually Dremann would put his parents’ fear to rest as he advanced his military career and became the first transgender serviceman to be promoted after the repeal of the transgender ban.
Junior business management major Gabriel Brown was in attendance and stated, “I thought it was a really good speech. It was very informative, for me, because … I didn’t know that there were transgender people in the military.” Danker also weighed in on the presentation and said, “I thought Blake’s presentation was outstanding because he not only spoke to the students and others in the audience who are non-binary, but to every member of the audience, about the importance of being who you are and doing it with determination and diplomacy.”
Dremann reported that he was surprised at the number of individuals who attended the event at Blackburn. After everything he’s experienced, he reported, “It feels good. It feels like I am able to take the next step in my career without having to worry about other things. I can be who I need to be and concentrate on the milestones it takes to continue in my career advancement, rather than worrying about whether I still have one.”