About Me
Patricia King is a military veteran with 20 years of service to her country, enlisting in the US Army in 1999. Initially enlisting to find a sense of self and purpose, SSG King chose to stay because of her love for service to others. Patricia has deployed three times to Afghanistan, receiving many awards including the Combat Infantry Badge and the Bronze Star.
In 2015 Patricia made the decision to live authentically and came out as America’s first openly transgender infantry soldier. With this decision, Patricia became a leading voice in the push for full gender equality within the military. In 2016 with the opening of Combat jobs to women, Patricia became the first enlisted women in American history to serve in the US Army Infantry.
Ms King has served in leadership positions in SPARTA, America’s only non profit dedicated to actively serving transgender service members. Patricia has spoken at the pentagon to military leaders and politicians to help shape America’s policy on transgender military service during both the Obama and Trump administrations. In 2018, Congressman Joseph Kennedy III invited Patricia to represent transgender service members at the President’s State of the Union Address.
Featured on CNN Newsroom with Brooke Baldwin, NPR’s The Takeaway, in Time Magazine as well as other news agencies across the country and globally, Patricia has taken the lead in (or been an outspoken leader in) spreading awareness and fought for gender equality within the US military. She has also spoken as a featured speaker at the Iowa Safe Schools Governor’s Conference and been a guest speaker in Pride events in Tacoma, WA and Cape Cod, MA. Patricia has been invited to be a panelist for events in Washington DC as well as at Harvard University.
In 2019 Patricia King retired from the US Military after 20 years of service and launched Trish E. King: Speaking and Consulting. She brings a strategic and project management background, as well as over a decade of leadership experience to the conversation of workplace diversity and Inclusion, resiliency through authenticity, and LGBT advocacy. Patricia is a bold change agent with a passion for meritocracy through genuine inclusion initiatives.
