Sister Mary Elizabeth Clark (born 1938, in

Pontiac, Michigan Pontiac ( ') is a city in and the county seat of Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 61,606. A northern suburb of Metro Detroit, Pontiac is about northwest of Detroit. Founde ...

) is the main mover of the AIDS Education and Global Information System database, previously a pre-

World Wide Web The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information system enabling documents and other web resources to be accessed over the Internet. Documents and downloadable media are made available to the network through web se ...

bulletin board system A bulletin board system (BBS), also called computer bulletin board service (CBBS), is a computer server running software that allows users to connect to the system using a terminal program. Once logged in, the user can perform functions such as ...

Biography

Clark was born in June 1938 in Pontiac, Michigan and assigned male at birth. In 1957, she enlisted in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

and rose to the rank of chief petty officer (E-7), serving as an instructor in

anti-submarine warfare Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations are t ...

. Clark had an 11-year marriage which produced a son, but ended acrimoniously. 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 Gender-affirming surgery (GAS) is a surgical procedure, or series of procedures, that alters a transgender or transsexual person's physical appearance and sexual characteristics to resemble those associated with their identified gender, and alle ...

and took the name Joanna Michelle Clark. A

U.S. Army Reserve The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed Forces. Since July 20 ...

s recruiter who was aware that she was transgender enlisted her as a woman in the Army in 1976. A year and a half later, she was nominated for promotion to

warrant officer Warrant officer (WO) is a rank or category of ranks in the armed forces of many countries. Depending on the country, service, or historical context, warrant officers are sometimes classified as the most junior of the commissioned ranks, the mos ...

. 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. During the 1970s, she was an activist for the rights of transsexual people and was instrumental in winning the right of

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

ns to have their gender changed on their birth certificates and driver licenses. In 1980, she founded and led the

ACLU The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...

Transsexual Rights Committee. She had been raised

Southern Baptist The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination, and the largest Protestant and second-largest Christian denomination in the United States. The word ...

, 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 American Catholic Church and American Catholic commonly refer to: * Catholic Church in the United States, the Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, in the US American Catholic Church may also refer to: * American Catholic Chur ...

, a small independent Christian denomination following

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

rites. Also in the 1980s she continued the work of the

Erickson Educational Foundation Reed Erickson (October 13, 1917 – January 3, 1992) was an American trans man best known for his philanthropy that, according to sociology specialist Aaron H. Devor, largely informed "almost every aspect of work being done in the 1960s and 1970 ...

, aiding transgender people. In 1990, inspired by meeting an isolated young man with

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

in rural

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, she returned to her family home in

San Juan Capistrano San Juan Capistrano (Spanish for "St. John of Capistrano") is a city in Orange County, California, located along the Orange Coast. The population was 34,593 at the 2010 census. San Juan Capistrano was founded by the Spanish in 1776, when St. ...

, California, taking on the

AEGIS begun by

Jamie Jemison Jamie is a unisex name. It is a diminutive form of James or, more rarely, other names. It is also given as a name in its own right. People Female * Jamie Anne Allman (born 1977), American actress * Jamie Babbit (born 1970), American film and t ...

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 amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research, known until 2005 as the American Foundation for AIDS Research, is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to the support of AIDS research, HIV prevention, treatment education, and the advocacy of ...

, the

Jonathan Mann Award for Health and Human Rights The Global Health Council is a United States-based non-profit leading networking organization "supporting and connecting advocates, implementers and stakeholders around global health priorities worldwide". The Council is the world's largest membe ...

from the International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care,Elton John honoured by IAPAC
. GayLifeUK (2003-05-20). Retrieved on 2015-06-02. the Crystal Heart award from the San Diego GLBT Center and the Joan of Arc award from the

Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...

Community Foundation.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Mary Elizabeth 1938 births Living people American LGBT military personnel People from Pontiac, Michigan Military personnel from Michigan HIV/AIDS activists American health activists LGBT Christians People from San Juan Capistrano, California Transgender women Transgender rights activists United States Navy sailors Women in the United States Army 20th-century American Episcopalian nuns Transgender military personnel LGBT people from Michigan Activists from California 21st-century American nuns Transgender history in the United States