‘In this uniform I am still legally female’: A transgender Army Staff Sergeant on Trump’s military ban

Ash Whaley, a transgender Army Staff Sergeant, has been serving in the military for ten years. He was stationed in Iraq in 2007, and now the future of his career is uncertain because of Trump’s transgender military ban.

Whaley started his transition from female to male nearly four years ago. While in the military, he identified as a female from 2007-2013, and began his transition in 2014.

The Tab spoke with him about Trump’s transgender military ban and his experience in the military.

What were your initial thoughts when Trump initiated the ban of transgender personnel serving in the military?

I found out about it through Facebook while I was in Louisiana for a Joint Readiness Training Center rotation for the military. My first initial reaction was shock, and then I became worried about my career and what was going to happen to me while I was here. I wondered if the last ten years of my life spent defending my country was going to be ruined by someone who has never served a day in his life. But then I put on my boots and continued with my day.

What are your struggles being transgender in the military?

My biggest issue is not exactly being able to be who I am while in my uniform. As the transgender policy is being integrated into the military, it is all still new to units and people in leadership — they are still trying to understand it themselves. I have to follow the policy while going through the process of changing all my documentation. So that means while in this uniform I am still legally “female.”

Do you feel more support from your peers, family and friends after Trump’s ban than you did before?

When the ban was announced I had a lot of support from all of my friends. They reassured me that they would fight for me and my rights to fight for this country.

Do you think the positive response against Trump’s ban is bringing more awareness to the LGBTQ community, especially the transgender community?

The ban has definitely brought more awareness for the LGBTQ community and transgender individuals. People who might not have stepped forward before are doing so now and fighting for transgender rights. Although there are a lot of people who will say negative comments about transgender individuals in the military, the number of supporters outweighs the negativity.

If transgender people in the military would all stand together and prove that we are worthy to fight for this country, that we are not a burden, and that the medical cost is just a theory, we can beat this. I will continue to fight for this country and continue to love doing my job until they force me to stop, and then I will fight back.

IU’s first trans sorority sister on why you should rush

She wanted to be surrounded by strong, independent and hard working women, but Jenna Comins-Addis wasn't ready for 2016 fall recruitment. She had just come out as trans and needed more time to adjust to her new life.

A year later, she registered with Panhellenic to go through the strenuous recruitment process. At Indiana University, the process for joining a sorority is long and grueling. Over the course of a couple weekends, participants visit 23 different chapters and speak with hundreds of girls before they're selected to join a pledge class on "bid day."

Each chapter prides itself as being uniquely different, but Jenna didn't care. "It didn't matter where I got in, as long as I got into a chapter that I was happy with," she said.

Not everyone who enters rush comes out with a golden ticket, but Jenna did. Last spring, she became the first trans woman to join Delta Phi Epsilon. Even more remarkably, Jenna became the first trans woman to join IU's Greek life.

Jenna on Bid Day, 2017.

“The trans and queer community can know that they can find safety and support at any sorority at Indiana University, and especially at Delta Phi Epsilon,” Jenna said.

Today, Jenna is a junior studying cinematic production and design. Aside from being a proud member of the DPhiE sisterhood, she works in the marketing department for IU Rec Sports, writes for the Hoosier Flipside and is in the Indiana All Media Club.

We sat down with Jenna to talk about her experience as a trans woman in Greek life.

What was recruitment like?

Well, you know what it's like to go through recruitment, it's hard for everybody — it's part of the process. I enjoyed going through recruitment; getting to meet very nice, beautiful women in every single chapter…it was so much fun. Even though we had to walk around in the cold it was still worth it. I really enjoyed meeting new people and having unique conversations. The experience was like no other.

I also loved my RhoGam, she helped me out so much and so did the people around me. Honestly, I didn’t feel all that different from those going through recruitment, [being trans] it was a side note.

How has the Greek community welcomed you?

A sister of another chapter at IU said that she would be so excited to hear if I was going through recruitment. And that second I knew I wanted to try it out. I was so excited. Now that I’m in Greek life, I feel really welcomed. It’s not like I'm getting any special treatment from Panhellenic, I just get treated like a person.

There's nothing special about me being trans in a sorority, that’s just an afterthought. I would love to see more transgender people go through recruitment in the future, whether that would be rushing a fraternity or going through recruitment.

Have you encountered any challenges since joining a sorority?

I face so many challenges, but I face the same challenges as anybody else. Sometimes you get frustrated with people, and sometimes you work really hard. Like during philanthropy and you wish it went better, but honestly that's what everyone feels.

The only difference with my experience is that I'm trans. That's such a small thing. Anyone can go through recruitment. Anyone can join a sorority. It's not anything to be afraid of or intimated by—it's something to be excited about.

What advice do you have for members of the LGBTQ community at IU that may want to go through recruitment?

I want to be someone who can help people who want to go through recruitment but aren't sure yet. I hope I can be their way of knowing that they're safe, they can be excited about it, and that they don't need to be afraid of it. I went through plenty of rejection during recruitment, but we all do.

Somebody getting a perfect rush is so rare. Never go in expecting a perfect rush. Never go in expecting to get the exact chapter you want. In fact, don't even know what chapter you want. Go in not knowing anything. It doesn’t matter where you get in, as long as you're happy.

What has been your favorite part of being involved in Greek life and DPhiE?

My favorite part of being in Greek life is feeling like I have a place where I belong and having these opportunities that I've never had before. I like being apart of something that's larger than myself. It's really great to have sisters who can help you, and you can help them.

Delta Phi Epsilon has the most open and accepting communities and chapters nationally. We just had a big policy change in our bylaws that allows for all transgender and transgender non-conforming people to join. We're really excited about that. I'm not the only queer sorority sister in Delta Phi Epsilon. It's so exciting to talk to sisters in different chapters and learn their stories too.

Activist organizations rally for ‘love, not hate’ at Sample Gates

On Sunday afternoon, 12 IU student and Bloomington organizations rallied for “love, not hate” at the Sample Gates in response to the 2016 presidential election results.

At 3 p.m., IU students, student activist organizations and Bloomington residents made their voices, fears, and opinions heard at the Sample Gates in a discussion about the ungovernable resistance.

Multiple groups on campus and individuals organized the “Community Defense and Resistance,” which was publicized on Facebook only three days before the rally. These groups are made up of individuals who are concerned about the most vulnerable communities that are affected by the President-elect Donald Trump, such as human rights for the LGBTQIA community and women, the undocumented immigrants, the homeless, those living with a mental illness, and more.

The groups represented at the event included PRISM, Shalom, Bloomington Solidarity Network, Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard, Students Against State Violence, Food Not Bombs, South Central Indiana Jobs With Justice, the Indiana Recovery Alliance, Bloomington Against Islamophobia, Undocu-Alliance (undocumented students), Bloomington NAACP, and New Leaf New Life.

Protesters sang the chorus of, “This Little Light of Mine” and held posters that said, “You can’t comb over racism,” “Love wins,” “Love is power,” “We will be the change,” “I stand for peace, justice, and equality,” and more.

Activists protest in front of the Sample Gates.

Many IU female students were in attendance because they were afraid for loved ones who are minorities and wanted to show their love and support by being a voice for them.

“A lot of people I care about are directly affected by the policies put in place by the government. Some of my co-worker’s faiths have been under attack, and they are the nicest people I know,” said IU senior, Kelseigh Ingram.

Spokeswoman and event co-organizer Alex expressed the fears she faces personally with the president-elect in her opening speech at the rally.

“I cried and cried about what it meant to have Trump as the president of the United States,” she said. “I was thinking about what we could do to resist. And right now, my only solution that I could come up with is to be as gay as humanely possible. Like getting a neck tattoo of a bald eagle with rainbow feathers getting shot out of a glitter cannon – that kind of gay.”

At this statement, cheers erupted from the crowd.

In her speech, she also expressed ways to counteract Trump’s hate toward American minorities.

“We are motivated by the sense of urgency to stand up for ourselves and for the vulnerable communities. We are here to say no, we are here to resist, and we are here to figure out how we can ally ourselves with each other so that we can form a powerful coalition of resistance. Anger is not the antonym of love.”

Event spokesman Joe said that this is a gathering in resistance to the political violence, and that we’re here to defend the undocumented, their families, and ourselves.

“There is a four letter word that starts with L,” he said, “that combats two four letter words that start with F, ‘fuck’ and ‘fear’. And that L word is ‘love’.”

William Morse of Bloomington NAACP encouraged love and positive energy throughout the crowd by prompting each person to tell the person standing next to them, “I’m glad you’re here, and I’ve got your back.”

Representatives of PRISM, Bri and Isaac, shared their personal stories and their fears of the harsh negativity coming from American society toward the LGBTQ+ community. Bri uses the pronouns “she” and “her,” and Isaac uses the pronouns “he” and “him.”

“We are in fear of harassment in and outside of our schools, policy changes that could allow for acts of violence towards us and regression in LGBTQ+ healthcare,” Bri said.

Isaac also shared his story.

“Many of us worry about being out, open, and authentically ourselves. We ask you to accept and affirm the LGBTQ youth in your life and make sure that the spaces they occupy and are present in are safe. Now more than ever, it is important to make sure that our voices are being amplified and that our hearts are being validated,” Isaac said while crying.

Isaac’s speech resulted in cheers from the crowd saying, “We love you.”

IU sophomore and co-founder of IU Students for Democratic Society, Stanley, united the crowd in chanting “human rights” in response to his fears of the newly elected government leadership.

“Love trumps hate, and we have to reach out and extend a hand. This is something real. This is something that will bring us together. The love and unity that we share is what fuels the movement,” he said.

The crowd chanted “Si se puede.” He then chanted back, “Because black lives matter we will,” and the crowd yelled, “Rise up.”

He repeated, “Because LGBTQ rights matter we will,” and the crowd yelled, “rise up.”

“Because women rights matter we will,” and the crowd yelled, “rise up.”

“Because the power of the people will always be better than the people in government we will,” and the crowd yelled, “rise up.”

Alex, returning to the front, told the crowd that, “All of these groups are disenfranchised under one person and we can use that to his disadvantage. And we will. We will be [Trump’s] worst nightmare.”

The crowds’ unity and emotional support toward every race, gender, religion, and sexual orientation was projected in rally for one common desire: Love.

‘We were rabid animals’: What it’s like to rush a fraternity at Indiana University

Standing shoulder to shoulder with his pledge brothers in the hazing room at IU’s chapter of Sigma Alpha Mu, David Burkman braced himself for the next round of hazing. A fat spitball from a brother landed directly on the freshman’s face.

“If you do that again I’ll kill you,” Burkman said.

It took several fraternity brothers to restrain the men from beating each other to a pulp. Sleep deprived, starved and worn out from months of pledging, the pledge brothers were hungry for a fight. Realizing the severity of what could happen, the brother was dragged to a different room to prevent a bloodbath.

“The brothers could see in our eyes we were rabid animals, if a fight had broken out, we would have killed the brothers," Burkman said.

This occurred 25 years ago at IU, but fraternity hazing still happens today. This year alone, Delta Tau Delta, Sigma Gamma Rho and Sigma Nu were all suspended for hazing. In November 2017, the Interfraternity Council self imposed a three month ban on Greek life in an effort to revaluate and strengthen the community's values.

In October, only a month before his alma mater suspended Greek life, Burkman released "Haze", the movie he wrote and directed about the horrifying realities of hazing at college campuses.

Since its release, "Haze" has been screened at more than 50 colleges campuses, and at movie theaters and festivals across the country, and can now be seen on Netflix.

The movie has been screened twice at IU but no one has asked what’s real and what’s fiction. The Tab spoke with Burkman and uncovered Sammy’s dark past and hazing tactics.

How did the timeline of hazing tragedies in recent years inspire you to make and release the film when you did?

What's interesting is those incidents happened after we made the film. This is stuff that's been going on for decades. The movie is based on a lot of my own experience but it's also based on two years of pretty exhausted research. What's happened at Penn State has gotten more press specifically because what happened was caught on surveillance camera. And it's not like what happened there is unique.

What scene best represents your hazing experience at IU?

In the broadest sense, everything you see in the movie is based on my experience. Hazing starts very gradually, in the beginning you might not even know that it's hazing. And then by the time that you arrive at hell week, you're so far in and you've committed so much, to quit at that point is much harder to walk away even when things get dangerous. It's important for people to understand that.

In hazing there's an operant conditioning going on. In other words, you're not being hazed constantly from day one; you get hazed a little bit and then you get rewarded of some kind; they make you feel like you're "in." And then you think you've arrived and then the next day they haze you again. And it's that alternating punishment and reward. For me, hell week was certainly the most profound experience. And the hell week I experienced was more than a week, it was about ten days.

That's a period of time where if you're not in class you have to be at the house, when you're at the house you all are in one small room. You're not allowed for the entire week to sleep, eat or shower.

And then to put more of a point on it, there's a scene in the movie; do you remember the scene where Nick gets spit on by Taylor towards the end? And he says, "If you do that again I will kill you." That's directly out of my own experience.

Some of the guys that were doing the hazing treated it like it was a game. This guy, I don't know if he knew it was a game. I think he was just malicious. I talked back and he spit a huge loogie in my face. And I basically was so exhausted, and so just unraveled. There was a primal thing that switched on in me, and I just said, in kind of a calm even tone, "If you do that again I will kill you." And he went freaking nuts.

And I realized in this moment that what they were trying to do to us was working in some level in the sense that it definitely was bonding us to each other, but it was breaking down. Because it was bonding us with each other against the fraternity. The brothers pulled that kid out of the room and basically just tried to stop it by keeping him away because they they could see in our eyes we were rabid animals. If a fight had broken out, the pledges would kill the brothers. We would've torn them apart because we were so sleep deprived, we hadn't eaten, we've been beaten down for months, it would have been a total blood bath, and I think they knew that.

Is Nick based off you?

I think that in some ways, yes, but in some ways I'm also the Pete character. When I was going through the experience, I felt like I was of two minds.

On the one hand I was Nick in the sense that I wanted to be in it, I wanted to be a part of it; I was enjoying myself. But then I was in a second mind because there was another part of my brain that was saying, this is absolutely idiotic, this is dangerous, this is stupid, why am I allowing myself to go through this? This is crazy.

I'm both. I am Nick and Pete. I share both of their perspectives.

Is the pledge master based off of your pledge master? Do you still have a relationship with him?

I haven't had a relationship with him since college. But it's funny, I will tell you this, there's some guys in my pledge class who became very good friends with our pledge master. And I think that speaks to another psychological phenomenon which is Stockholm syndrome. The idea that there's this guy who is abusing you in some way, but he's promising you that if you earn his respect by doing all of this shit that he wants you to do then somehow you will be a part of this thing. It will be unbelievably fulfilling in a sense. So, I can see why some people hate or resent their pledge master, but then once that pledge master says, "You're in, you're one of us, you're with me," and embraces you, they drop the act and now they're friendly to you. And guys just love that. They are so freaking excited that the dude who was rejecting them for so long is now accepting them and they think it's the greatest thing ever.

Now I wasn't built like that. If somebody abuses me, fuck you. I was friendly to the guys I went through it with. Not the guys who abused me. I never got over that. I was like, "You're an asshole. I don't really want anything to do with you." So the idea that now I'm their brother is just absurd.

There are two types of brothers during hazing, which one are you?

There were guys in my pledge class who were just dicks. And they couldn't wait until it was their turn to haze. And then there were guys like me; I was the guy who would tell pledges, "Hey listen, if things are getting really hard just come hang out in my room." I didn't participate in any of the hazing that crossed the line. I wasn't a "hazer" and in some fraternities they require everyone to participate, ours wasn't like that. Once you were in the fraternity you could kind of do whatever you wanted to do. I didn't really care that much about the organizational stuff or the hazing. I only participated in parties, dances, and hanging out with the people I wanted to hang out with.

Did killing a dog actually happen in your experience?

There was no animal cruelty in my personal experience whatsoever. But we did have some stories told to us; we were told about kittens that were killed, and we were told that every pledge had to raise a duckling then at the end they had to take a golf club to their head.

If you were a college freshman at IU again, would you still rush and join a fraternity?

If I knew everything I knew today I definitely wouldn't. If I was like most people entering college, I probably wouldn't know what's going on. I think it would be very hard to say I wouldn't do it again.

What advice would you give to a young man deciding to go through fraternity rush?

Watch Haze. Watch it with other people and have a conversation about it. There's a lot to unpack. There's a lot to talk about. At the end of the day, it's really about, what need is hazing serving? Because it's obviously serving a need, and we don't want to ignore that need. We want to acknowledge it. And then say okay what are some healthy, safe meaningful things we can do that will still serve that same goal, but obviously won't put people's lives in danger?

Do you think that hazing could stop altogether?

I think in a perfect world there's a recipe and a map to get there. That said it's still immensely challenging to convince the people who believe in this to change. As long as everything is under wraps, behind closed doors and they can hide everything that they're doing, then I don't know that it is necessarily going to change. But all we have to do is look to the Penn State situation, where these guys didn't realize that they were on camera and being recorded. It's probably illegal to require surveillance cameras to be installed into every room in every fraternity house. But if you really want to solve this problem quickly, the organizations themselves internally could do it. But then the argument could be made that they just won't do it in the house, they'll go off somewhere else. It's a tough problem; not easily solved.

I was hit by a car and the police wouldn’t send an ambulance for me

At age 22 and a recent college graduate, living in Detroit for her first job after college was supposed to be Anna Smith’s most prominent life-altering event of 2012, not being hit by a car.

I was picked up in my suburban Detroit apartment by my date that night, Will, who I had gone out with two times before; we went to a fancy restaurant, a bar after that, and then we decided to get milkshakes across the street. The next thing I know, I was lying in the road covered in blood.

I heard people talking about how someone had been hit by a car. I panicked. I couldn’t feel my legs, then I realised they were talking about me.

After two months in a wheelchair, eight different surgeries, eight months in a cast, ten months off of work, 13 months of physical therapy and two years of waiting for the Detroit Police Department to get in trouble for not doing their job properly that night, I still remember that day seven years ago like it was yesterday.

After I realised it was me who had been hit, I asked to be moved out of the road but no one did. Then an ambulance came - but no thanks to the police officers on the scene. I woke up in the hospital and saw Will and my parents standing there and was confused about how they knew each other.

I found out that I had been hit by a vehicle; split my head open, broke my nose, broke my arm, tore tendons in my wrist and my hand, broke my leg in four places, shattered my ankle and tore my anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). I was told that I would have to go into surgery for my ankle and get a skin graft on my hand to fix the tendons right away.

The next day my mom went to the Detroit Police Station to get the accident report, and two years later, four police officers were reprimanded for not doing their job properly that night; they didn’t call the ambulance to get me to the hospital safely, two off-duty firemen crossing the street the other way did.

The events that were uncovered that led up to those police officers getting punished all started when my mom read the accident report. It said the road was a three-lane road when really it was seven lanes, and that there were no visible injuries to me. But I was broken and covered in blood.

So my mom hired a private investigator and an accident reconstructionist to find out what really happened to me.

As I was crossing the road two men were crossing in the opposite direction - the off duty firemen - and they were the ones who called an ambulance from their department for me.

Will called the police three times after I was hit by the car, but every time they hung up on him. I went onto the hood while it continued to drive and once it stopped, I flew off.

They said they were too busy and if I needed an ambulance ride Will would have to take me.

When my mom confronted the lady who conducted the police report about its falsities, she said that the four police officers waited on the scene for four hours and when they realised I wouldn’t die, they left.

Since the Detroit Police Department is so busy, they would have only done a full investigation if I had died.

The driver in the car who hit me didn’t get a ticket or anything, but finally, two years later a new police chief came into place who knew my mom and the police officers on duty that night were reprimanded for not doing their job.

For probably six months after the accident, I wouldn’t cross the road or even go in a parking lot. I would have whoever was driving me drop me off right at the door.

I was definitely depressed after; I was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. Immediately after I was fine but then three months later I had to go in for another round of surgeries. I had surgeries for another two and a half years after that.

When I was healing for the first couple of months I couldn’t be by myself because I couldn't walk. And I couldn’t be in a wheelchair because my arm was broken so I couldn’t wheel. So I had a walker that I had to hop with on the leg that wasn’t broken.

I had to have someone in the house 24/7. My parents, their friends and mine had to stay home from work a lot.

Today I have anxiety that stems from the accident and I suffer from leg and back pain, but I’m not afraid of crossing the street anymore.

The name of the subject has been changed

Jessica’s gluten-free kitchen

Some people are gluten-free for the fad, but not Jessica Galsworthy. As a lover of food and a baker, Galsworthy never wanted to be diagnosed with coeliac disease and learn that she was also allergic to dairy, potatoes, yeast, corn, sesame and oats. And on top of that, she had to cut out many foods to heal her stomach.

“My favourite past-time was about to become my biggest challenge, eating,” she said. But today, she has a very successful Instagram blog, jessicaskitchen_gf with 14k followers, an online blog and one-person gluten and dairy free bakery company, all because of her celiac diagnosis.

Her Instagram account isn’t verified with the blue tick yet, which is what Instagram puts next to an account to represent that it is an authentic public figure, celebrity or global brand account, according to Instagram. But it may as well be because of major gluten-free brands such as Genius Gluten Free has paid her to sponsor their products on her account. In the social media world, that’s when you know you’ve made it.

At 27-years-old, Galsworthy is running a successful social media account and following a strict diet, all while having to take a year off work as a banker in London because of her chronic fatigue syndrome.  

This requires her to live part-time with her parents in Essex and her boyfriend in London so she can see her doctor at home.

In 2007 she had chronic fatigue syndrome as well so she had to take two years off of school and take her GCSEs at home. But prior to her going to university, it went away. But it came back again after she was diagnosed with celiac disease and learned of all of her food allergies.

“I think the combination of the celiac stuff, the whole new diet and trying to maintain my job, my body was just like whoa, this is too much. And it kicked it back in again,” she said.

Two years ago she was on holiday with her boyfriend in Italy and she felt “awful,” she said. In the world’s capital of pizza and pasta, that’s all she was eating. She said she felt like she was “about to give birth” because her stomach was so “swollen” the entire trip and didn’t know why.

I asked her how she met her boyfriend and her cheeks matched the colour of her jumper and she told me the story with a smile from ear to ear.

“He was my first friend at uni, literally,” she said.

They shared a flat in student housing and were two of five roommates, however, the other three people were never there so they became very close. Ironically, their rooms were connected and their doors were the only two whose locks didn’t work.  

Eight years later, they have been together ever since.

Once back in the U.K., her boyfriend suggested she go back to her doctor. She did and described the symptoms of her protruding stomach and how sick she felt after eating food.

All of her life she has had stomach problems which the doctors said was irritable bowel syndrome. But the pain and discomfort she experienced the two weeks in Italy made her go back to the doctor’s to get reevaluated.

She had her blood drawn and a scan of her stomach. On her birthday, 5 September of 2017 she was diagnosed with celiac disease and learned of her other food allergies.

“I rang my mom and for some reason, I was crying when I told her I was celiac. I had no idea what it was. I googled it and it said I had to be gluten-free. When you first get diagnosed it feels like it’s the end of the world,” she said laughing and looking embarrassed.

For Galsworthy, only having coeliac disease would be a piece-of-cake, but for over a year she also had to cut out over 30 foods which she was allowed to bring back into her diet eventually once her stomach healed from all of the damage coeliac disease caused it.

“I could eat so little, honestly. It was barely anything. I could have butternut squash, pork, a bit of quinoa and a vegetable, but only if it was really well cooked, like peas.”

“I wasn’t allowed chicken, beef, rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes, broccoli, corn and more. The list was huge. Honestly, it was ridiculous,” she said.

She was only allowed to reintroduce those foods back into her diet four months ago.

However, as well as wheat and gluten, she also learned she was allergic to dairy, potatoes, yeast, corn, sesame and oats, which she can never reintroduce into her diet.

But surprisingly, the hardest part of her food journey isn’t her restrictions.

“It's not even the food that I really want. It’s the convenience. It’s just running into Starbucks and grabbing something and not having to worry. It’s a pain in the ass but you do get used to it. I just hate the awkwardness of sorting out where to go to eat. Sometimes you just want to turn up and not worry about it and order anything, that’s the dream,” she said.

The best part about her recent food journey is the creation of her Instagram account. “I think that's the beauty of the account because it makes [eating] fun again,” she said.

She started the account because she didn't know anyone with celiac disease or know anything about it. She needed a place for gluten-free ideas and people she could connect to who were like her.

“I just had no idea where to even start, so I just started looking at people on Instagram and I was like, oh my god, I’m going to follow you all,” she said laughing. “I was following everyone on my personal account and then it was getting out of hand. My whole personal account was celiac food so I just thought I’m going to start a separate account.”

Her Instagram feed content - which are the photos posted on Instagram that are laid out in a grid - are photos of food that she has made with the recipe in the caption, a photo of a new gluten-free and dairy-free find at a supermarket, a photo of a gluten-free meal at a restaurant and quotes related to gluten-free life.

Her Instagram story content - which are photos and videos that vanish within 24 hours unless they are saved to a story highlight - is organised in the highlights as: Egg fried rice, #7 day reset, mains, breakfast, baking, eating out, Christmas and snacks.

Only a year after she created it, it has grown to 14k followers, and as if that number isn’t enough to validate her, her followers love her too.

@theartisanpie commented on a jam doughnut mug cake post: “Wow! I love this. Perfect for dinner parties too in funky little mugs!”

@Paleosunshinee commented on a chocolate hazelnut and cookie pie post: “Obsessed:)))”

@Glutenfree_gal commented on a chicken burger with a sweet potato roasted bun post: “This looks so good!! Definitely trying.”

Galsworthy is humble about her account’s success, but it’s clear from her followers that they love it. “I never planned to post anything but then started taking really awful photos of my own food and sharing it because everyone else was sharing with me. Then it’s just grown.”

“I think I’m on like 13k followers now. I don’t even know how that's happened,” she said.  

The rise of vegan athletes and how coaches are adapting

Veganism is becoming more acceptable in the professional and collegiate athlete world by coaches and trainers, and popular among athletes like tennis star Venus Williams.

On the Harvard School of Public Health’s protein table, a steak is first on the list and lentils are fifth. Americans are encouraged to consume animal products in order to achieve their proper protein intake; it is recommended to eat two to three servings of meat and dairy every day, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.  

But there are people who are not abiding by those guidelines who rely on plant-based protein. Three per cent of the U.S. population is vegan, according to Gallup, and among those people are professional and collegiate athletes like tennis superstar Venus Williams, players on the Major League Soccer (MLS) team New England Revolution and NCAA athletes on the Ferris State University American football team.

“I have coached a vegan player. He was an average college athlete. I would say the thing that was fascinating about him was that you could not tell by his physique that his diet was any different than anyone else on the team,” said Sam Parker, the offensive line American football coach at Ferris State University.

A vegan diet is a diet that excludes food products that come from animals; namely, meat, eggs and dairy.

“I personally haven’t considered a fully vegan diet though there are players on my team that are vegan. I do try to go with meatless meals once or twice a week because I’ve heard the value in that,” said Brandon Bye, MLS player for New England Revolution.

Coaches and trainers usually have an influence on their athlete’s meal plans, according to Bye.

So if their athletes choose to go vegan, what do they think about it?

“Go for it. I think it's incredible for any young man [or woman] to have that discipline and for certain it will help their body a great deal. At the end of the day, anything that is clean eating is going to do incredible things to an athlete’s body. Better than eating fast food and candy,” Parker said.

Veganism in athletes is a growing trend like it is with the rest of us who don’t play sports for a living. So much so that a bakery in the U.K.’s vegan sausage roll went viral during the new year and the hype isn’t over yet. Greggs, the bakery’s Twitter account is still tweeting about it.

It is no doubt that the rise in social media has had an influence on the increase in veganism in the U.S. Aside from professional athletes, celebrities that are vegan and who promote their diet and lifestyle on their social media pages are Ellie Goulding, Jennifer Lopez and Liam Hemsworth, according to The Telegraph.

But even though the vegan diet has become a fad, is it a healthy and feasible one for athletes?

Yes, a nutritive vegan diet can be designed to achieve the dietary needs of most athletes satisfactorily. However, “sport-specific” diets need to be achieved in order to maintain their strength for performing to their high athleticism expectations, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, a national library of medicine in the U.S.

Undoubtedly, part of coaches jobs is to ensure that their players are eating right and putting them on a “sport-specific” diet. Naturally, that varies between coaching staff.

On the New England Revolution MLS team, the player’s “body fats are taken periodically throughout the season and if the percentages are staying at a level that's acceptable, the staff isn’t worried about [their] eating habits,” according to Bye. “If percentages are going up then [they] have nutrition meetings to talk about eating habits and ideas for better meals.”

For the Ferris State University American football team, vegan diets have been explored but it is not reasonable to accomplish, especially for a team of over 80 players.

“I have explored vegan diets, but it is very difficult [to get] a budget to acquire vegan food exclusively that matches the right macros of proteins, carbs, and fats. It's very problematic as it relates to getting a giant quantity of food when travelling. My main priority is getting kids just to eat and get enough calories. That's really the top priority for our guys,” Parker said.

So where do vegan athletes get their protein?

Unlike vegetarians who can get their protein from eggs, vegans cannot; they rely solely on animal-free protein like soy products such as tofu and tempeh, as well as lentils, chickpeas and nuts.

Some might find this a challenge, but not for a Coach Dos, the director of speed, strength, and conditioning at College of the Canyons in California. “I don’t have a problem getting enough protein. My daily influx comes from sources like vegan protein powder, peanut butter, vegan ‘sausage’, lentils, beans, and other vegetables,” he said in an interview with Men’s Health.

It is suggested that vegan athletes have a higher protein intake than a vegetarian athlete, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information.

Will coaches be more accepting of vegan diets?

“I believe that [veganism] should and will be an acceptable option if coaches can gain an upper hand on the field. I believe that the more knowledge we gain about veganism will help us move that direction,” said Chris Keenan, a former Indiana University (IU) soccer player, US NCAA women’s soccer and men’s United Soccer League professional coach.

“My IU coach, Jerry Yeagley, back in 1984 did not emphasise nutrition and we were not on any regimen. Back in the 1990s when I coached NCAA women’s soccer, coaches were just starting to look at nutrition and a hydration strategy but not looking at vegan. Even vegetarian was not endorsed.”

“Today, coaches and trainers are taking a very active role in nutrition but I have not seen a vegan emphasis. I also think convenient access to vegan food is another hurdle as teams travel to play and searching for that diet can be more difficult,” Keenan said.