Transgender activist Felicia Alvarado Felicia Alvarado Elizondo at home in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, June 8, 2015. &quot;I didn't want to be this way. Who would? It's beautiful now, but in those days, it was horrible and a nightmare.&quot; So she joined the military and volunteered to go to Vietnam. &quot;If the military doesn't make me a man,&quot; she recalled thinking, &quot;Nothing would.&quot; Part of her hoped she'd die a hero and make her mother proud. But the military didn't change her. She was discharged and in 1973, started her transition. Living in California during the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s, Felicia, now 68, watched friend after friend get sick. But she also noticed that &quot;their families were surrounding them.&quot; Hoping for the same reunion, she lied and told her parents she was positive. &quot;It didn't even phase them.&quot; Photo: Preston Gannaway