Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series)
Service (2018)
Marquise Vilson: Jim Preston
Photos
Quotes
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Olivia Benson : [to Preston] Do you have any family in the military?
Jim Preston : No.
Olivia Benson : Friends?
Jim Preston : Just the ones I made after I enlisted.
Olivia Benson : So when you enlisted, you were just being a patriot? You just wanted to help people. In fact, you couldn't imagine not helping people. Believe me, I get it.
Jim Preston : I enlisted to serve my country.
Olivia Benson : Then serve its people.
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Jim Preston : I'm a transgender man. I believe that's what you were getting at, counselor. You could have just asked me. And because you're so interested, I'm physically able to have sex with whoever I want.
Defense Attorney Olson : So you're saying you were once a woman?
Jim Preston : No. I was always a man.
Defense Attorney Olson : But your birth certificate says "female". Am I right?
Peter Stone : Objection. Relevance.
Defense Attorney Olson : I'm just trying to establish that Sergeant Preston has been less than honest.
Peter Stone : Your Honor?
Defense Attorney Olson : My point is how can we trust a single word this witness says because he's been lying to the Army for years!
Jim Preston : Actually, it's in my medical forms, sir.
Defense Attorney Olson : Yeah, but your friends, your foxhole buddies, they don't know the real you, do they?
Jim Preston : I am the real me. My gender identity isn't relevant to what I do. Just as whatever's in your pants isn't relevant to what you do.
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Defense Attorney Olson : Are you gay, Sergeant?
Peter Stone : Objection!
Defense Attorney Olson : The witness just testified that unlike most red-blooded men, he didn't want to have sex with a beautiful woman. I'd like to know why.
Judge Anita Wright : Overruled.
Defense Attorney Olson : Are you gay, Sergeant?
Jim Preston : No.
Defense Attorney Olson : Happily married?
Jim Preston : No.
Defense Attorney Olson : So you're just confused?
Peter Stone : Objection.
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Jim Preston : [to Olivia about Sandy] I didn't do anything, Lieutenant. I didn't touch her.
Olivia Benson : I know that, Jim. I know. I bet when you enlisted, you were in high school.
Jim Preston : College.
Olivia Benson : You could have done anything with your life, and you chose to serve your country.
Jim Preston : And if I testify, my country will attack me.
Olivia Benson : Not your country. Some closed-minded people who work for a difference without a distinction.
Jim Preston : I'd like to help you put Staff Sergeant in prison, but if I do, I'll be putting myself in a prison of my own making.
Olivia Benson : Kind of like the one you're in now? You're worried how your fellow soldiers will see you?
Jim Preston : I'm so far beyond that. The least of my worries is having people laughing at me behind my back, craning to get a look at me in the shower. But once I'm outed to officials, there's no going back in and by the stroke of a tweet sent from Air Force One, I could lose my job, my career. Everything I've ever worked for.
Olivia Benson : I know that things feel uncertain, but do you get any comfort knowing that that tweet did not become a law?
Jim Preston : Today maybe. What about tomorrow? I don't know what's gonna happen. Do you?
Olivia Benson : No, I don't.
Jim Preston : Look at me! I'm a soldier, Lieutenant. A damn good soldier. I couldn't stand being stuck behind a desk.I love what I do. This job is who I am.