Mary Elizabeth Clark

{{Infobox person

| name = Sister Mary Elizabeth Clark

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1938|6|16}}

| nationality = American

| other_names = Joanna Michelle Clark

| known_for = Trans activist, AIDS educator and archivist

| notable_works = AIDS Education and Global Information System database

| parents =

}}

Sister Mary Elizabeth Clark (born 1938 in Pontiac, Michigan) is the main mover of the AIDS Education and Global Information System database, previously a pre-World Wide Web bulletin board system.{{cite web|title=About: AEGiS History|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071022055127/http://www.aegis.org/about/about.htm |archive-date=October 22, 2007|url=http://www.aegis.org/about |publisher=AIDS Education Global information System. aegis.org |access-date=2017-01-28}}

Biography

Clark was born in June 1938 in Pontiac, Michigan{{Cite web|url=https://xandradurward.wordpress.com/2017/02/16/michael-joanna-sister-mary-elizabeth-clark-an-american-hero/|title=Michael / Joanna / Sister Mary Elizabeth Clark; An American Hero|last=says|first=SharonAnne McC|date=2017-02-16|website=Xandra|language=en|access-date=2018-12-14}} and assigned male at birth.

In 1957, she enlisted in the United States Navy and rose to the rank of chief petty officer (E-7), serving as an instructor in anti-submarine warfare. Clark had an 11-year marriage which produced a son, but ended acrimoniously.{{Cite web|url=http://queerhistory.blogspot.com/2010/08/sister-mary-elizabeth-clark.html|title=Queers in History: Sister Mary Elizabeth Clark. transsexual nun|last=Terence|date=2010-08-17|website=Queers in History|access-date=2018-12-14}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-dec-29-me-goodturns29-story.html|title=She Shares Her AIDS Archive With the World|last=Gottlieb|first=Jeff|date=2002-12-29|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=2018-12-14|language=en-US|issn=0458-3035}}

She married again, and later revealed her gender dysphoria to her second wife, who helped her through self-identifying as female. Upon learning of her psychological evaluations, the Navy discharged her honorably. In 1975, she underwent a sex reassignment surgery and took the name Joanna Michelle Clark.

A U.S. Army Reserves recruiter who was aware that she was transgender enlisted her as a woman in the Army in 1976.[http://www.thecrystalclub.org/chron/9811.html The Crystal Chronicle, November 1998]. Thecrystalclub.org. Retrieved on 2015-06-02. A year and a half later, she was nominated for promotion to warrant officer. Her enlistment was voided when her transgender status became known to higher-ups. She brought suit against the Army and won a settlement of $25,000 and an honorable discharge.{{cite web|url=http://ww1.aegis.org/news/lt/1997/lt971201.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130223061053/http://ww1.aegis.org/news/lt/1997/lt971201.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 23, 2013 |title=A Life of Service: Sister Mary, whose past has seen many painful twists and turns, now brings comfort to others with the world's most comprehensive Web site on AIDS and HIV |work=Los Angeles Times |date=December 1, 1997 |access-date=2013-05-09 |author=Pasco, Jean O. }}[https://archive.today/20130223061657/http://ww1.aegis.org/news/misc/2005/UPD050301.html Article from transsexual community publication Update profiling Sr. Mary Elizabeth]{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-01-08-mn-23026-story.html|title=Transsexual Nun's Order Repudiated|last=SMITH|first=LYNN|date=1988-01-08|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=2018-12-14|language=en-US|issn=0458-3035}}

During the 1970s, she was an activist for the rights of transsexual people and was instrumental in winning the right of Californians to have their gender changed on their birth certificates and driver licenses. In 1980, she founded and led the ACLU Transsexual Rights Committee.

She had been raised Southern Baptist, but left the church due to disillusionment with racism in its congregations. In the 1980s, she felt a religious calling and worked to become an Episcopal sister. Conflict with the Episcopal diocese over the validity of the order she sought to found led to her leaving the denomination shortly after she took her vows in 1988, and she later became a sister of the American Catholic Church, a small independent Christian denomination following Catholic rites.

Also in the 1980s she continued the work of the Erickson Educational Foundation, aiding transgender people.{{Cite book|title=Transsexualism and Sex Reassignment|last=Green|first=Richard|last2=Money|first2=John|publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press|year=1969|isbn=978-0801810381}}{{cite web|url=http://dallasdenny.com/Writing/2013/08/22/the-impact-of-emerging-technologies-on-one-transgender-organizationthe-impact-of-emerging-technologies-on-one-transgender-organizationthe-impact-of-emerging-technologies-on-one-transgender-organizatio/|title=The Impact of Emerging Technologies on One Transgender Organization|last=Denny|first=Dallas|author-link=Dallas Denny|date=August 22, 2013|website=Dallas Denny: Body of Work|publisher=Dallas Denny|access-date=August 20, 2016}}

In 1990, inspired by meeting an isolated young man with AIDS in rural Missouri, she returned to her family home in San Juan Capistrano, California, taking on the bulletin board system AEGIS begun by Jamie Jemison and eventually building it into the "most definitive – and perhaps the most accessible – source of information on" AIDS.

Awards and recognition

She is the recipient of the Award of Courage from the American Foundation for AIDS Research,{{Cite web|url=https://www.amfar.org/content.aspx?id=4500|title=amfAR :: 2003 Honoring with Pride Sister Mary Elisabeth, OSM :: The Foundation for AIDS Research :: HIV / AIDS Research|website=www.amfar.org|access-date=2018-12-14}} the Jonathan Mann Award for Health and Human Rights from the International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care,[http://www.gaylifeuk.com/news/3097-elton-john-honoured-by-iapac.html Elton John honoured by IAPAC] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304131815/http://www.gaylifeuk.com/news/3097-elton-john-honoured-by-iapac.html |date=2016-03-04 }}. GayLifeUK (2003-05-20). Retrieved on 2015-06-02. the Crystal Heart award from the San Diego GLBT Center{{Citation needed|date=December 2018}} and the Joan of Arc award from the Orange County Community Foundation.{{Citation needed|date=December 2018}}