Monica F. Helms (born March 8, 1951) is an American

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

activist, author, and veteran of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

. She created the best-known

transgender flag The transgender flag, also called the transgender pride flag, is used by people, organizations and communities to represent LGBT pride, pride, diversity, Transgenderism (social movement), rights and/or Transgender Day of Remembrance, remembran ...

Education

Helms received a General AA Degree and an AA in Industrial Television from Glendale Community College in Arizona in 1987 and graduated from

Chattahoochee Technical College Chattahoochee Technical College (Chattahoochee Tech, CTC, or Chatt Tech) is a Public college, public technical school, technical college in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is governed by the Technical College System of Georgi ...

in 2018 with an AA Degree in Television Production Technology.

US Navy career

File:FS Key.jpg, File:Key Patch.jpg, Key's Patch File:USS Flasher (SSN-613).jpg, File:Flasher Patch.jpg, Flasher's Patch Helms served in the U.S. Navy from 1970 to 1978, and was assigned to two submarines: (1972–1976) and (1976–1978). During her time in the Navy, Helms began dressing as a woman while based in Charleston, South Carolina and says in an interview it was the "deepest, darkest secret in erentire life". She was reassigned to the San Francisco area in 1976, and said she "felt like hecould be out in public as erself. Helms left the Navy in 1978, and joined her hometown's chapter of the United States Submarine Veterans, Inc. in 1996. After transitioning, Helms reapplied in 1998 to the Phoenix chapter of the veteran's group with the name "Monica" and received considerable push-back, including being referred to a more generic veteran's group for women rather than the submarine specific group. Helms eventually prevailed after a few months and is the first trans woman to ever join the organization.

Activism

Helms created a

transgender pride flag The transgender flag, also called the transgender pride flag, is used by people, organizations and communities to represent pride, diversity, rights and/or remembrance within the transgender community. Its usage is similar to the original ra ...

in 1999, and it was first flown at a

Pride Parade A pride parade (also known as pride event, pride festival, pride march, or pride protest) is an event celebrating lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) social and self-acceptance, achievements, LGBT rights by country o ...

in Phoenix, Arizona in 2000. Helms founded the Transgender American Veterans Association (TAVA) in 2003, and remained president until 2013. On May 1, 2004, TAVA sponsored the first ever Transgender Veterans March to the Wall. Fifty trans veterans arrived in DC and visited the

Vietnam Memorial The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, commonly called the Vietnam Memorial, is a U.S. national memorial in Washington, D.C., honoring service members of the U.S. armed forces who served in the Vietnam War. The site is dominated by two black granite w ...

to honor people they knew whose names are on The Wall. They also made history when they became the first openly transgender people to lay a wreath at the

Tomb of the Unknowns The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, United States is the burial site (and the white, marble sarcophagus above it) of a World War I soldier whose remains were unidentifiable. After a ...

. They did it again in 2005. Even now, Helms continues to advocate for transgender service members and veterans. She was elected as a delegate to the

2004 Democratic National Convention The 2004 Democratic National Convention convened from July 26 to 29, 2004 at the FleetCenter (now the TD Garden) in Boston, Massachusetts, and nominated Senator John Kerry from Massachusetts for president and Senator John Edwards from North ...

in Boston, Massachusetts. She was the first openly trans person elected to a DNC Convention from Georgia. Helms donated her original transgender pride flag to the Smithsonian

National Museum of American History The National Museum of American History: Kenneth E. Behring Center is a historical museum in Washington, D.C. It collects, preserves, and displays the heritage of the United States in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific, and m ...

, at the first ceremony honoring the addition of a collection of LGBT historical items at the Smithsonian on August 19, 2014. In June 2019, to mark the 50th anniversary of the

Stonewall riots The Stonewall riots (also known as the Stonewall uprising, Stonewall rebellion, Stonewall revolution, or simply Stonewall) were a series of spontaneous riots and demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of ...

, an event widely considered a watershed moment in the modern

LGBTQ rights movement Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) movements are social movements A social movement is either a loosely or carefully organized effort by a large group of people to achieve a particular goal, typically a social or politica ...

, ''

Queerty ''Queerty'' is an online magazine and newspaper covering gay- and LGBTQ-oriented entertainment and news, founded in 2005 by David Hauslaib. As of June 2015, the site had more than five million monthly unique visitors. History ''Queerty'' was ...

'' named her one of the Pride50 for "trailblazing individuals who actively ensure society remains moving towards

equality Equality generally refers to the fact of being equal, of having the same value. In specific contexts, equality may refer to: Society * Egalitarianism, a trend of thought that favors equality for all people ** Political egalitarianism, in which ...

, acceptance and dignity for all

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...

people".

Book

In 2019, Helms released an autobiography titled ''More Than Just A Flag'', detailing major events in her life from childhood, her career in the Navy and activism for the transgender community, published by MB Books.

Personal life

Helms is married to Darlene Wagner. Wagner had worked for the

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the National public health institutes, national public health agency of the United States. It is a Federal agencies of the United States, United States federal agency under the United S ...

(CDC) prior to being laid off by the

Department of Government Efficiency The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is an initiative by the second Trump administration within the federal government of the United States. Its stated objective is to modernize information technology, maximize productivity, and cut ...

(DOGE) in 2025. In June 2025, Helms announced that she and Wagner plan to move to

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

, as they are both trans women and fear that anti-trans laws will come to affect them in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Helms, Monica 1951 births Activists from Arizona Activists from South Carolina American LGBTQ military personnel Female United States Navy personnel Flag designers LGBTQ people from Arizona LGBTQ people from South Carolina American LGBTQ rights activists Living people People from Sumter, South Carolina Transgender military personnel Transgender women writers American transgender writers Glendale Community College (Arizona) alumni