46: Brenda Sue Fulton, A Profile of Personal Courage

Unleashing Social Change

Like many of Becky’s mentors, Army Veteran Brenda Sue Fulton’s list of accomplishments is longer than a CVS receipt and chock full of lasting impact. Weaving her activism with community building, she has been a key player in ending the military’s discriminatory “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy and ending the military’s ban on openly serving transgender people.

A graduate of West Point’s first class to admit women, Sue shares her insights on how to muster the personal courage to keep going in the face of massive resistance.

Show Highlights:

• Stories can be more effective and more important that raising money
• How Becky and Sue founded Knights Out together and inspired dozens of West Point graduates to come out of the closet in support of ending “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
• How Sue inspired SPARTA to pursue ending the ban on openly serving transgender people a decade sooner than anyone thought was possible
• Knowing your true north is where you find the personal courage to keep going even when you are scared - and you will be scared.
• You can’t change minds until you change hearts.
• Once you change hearts you just have to clear the friction.

Show Resources:

• TransMilitary Documentary
• “Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can't practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage.” - Maya Angelou

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