So the United States White House and the President had leveled the Transgender Military Ban that transgender troops would be barred from the military and could not serve. The Defense Secretary later announced that the Pentagon would allow transgender people to serve openly. The Obama administration repealed discriminatory laws and supported transgender people serving.
The new administration was seen as a threat to transgender troops and proved to be just that. In May 2017 two transgender cadets one at West Point and the other at the Air Force Academy were denied their commissions based on a loop hole in the Pentagon policy, which stated they were not serving as active duty so were not covered.
A year after the ban was lifted, a delay occurred in allowing transgender recruits to join the military in June 2017. The delay was blamed on the need to review readiness and the affect of transgender troops on the overall forces. Congressional republicans were also working hard to undue many of Obama’s advances and the house narrowly rejected a bill that would have stopped the Pentagon from paying for transition and hormone therapy.
In July 2017, Trump reversed his policy and said that he had discussed with his generals and agreed that transgender people should not serve in any capacity in the military. He stated that the military should not be burdened with the cost of transition and that it would be a disruption in the force.
Late October 2017 a federal judge partially blocked enforcement of provisions of the Trump memo banning transgender individuals from serving including retention and enlistment in the military. The judge stated that this would be “…injured by these directives, due to both the inherent inequality they impose…” The judge was remarked to have wanted to bring the attitude back to where it had been before.
The memo “unequivocally” directs the military to “prohibit indefinitely the accession of transgender individuals and to authorize their discharge.”
The Department of Defense stated on their website “Effective Immediately: transgender Service members may serve openly, and they can no longer be discharged or otherwise separated fro the military solely for being transgender individuals.” The website states that it will be phased over the next 12 months and will cover those currently serving.
Transgender troops never should have been threatened in the first place with separation or not being able to serve. The ban was an archaic vision trying to play to a base of people and those that are not for freedom of expression and the rights of United States citizens to serve openly and to their freedom of expression. This was an unfair attack on the LGBT community that had seen support from the previous administration in the United States. With the Marriage Equality win which had happened under President Obama there was progress. But still there are not anti discrimination laws that would support and help transgender individuals in the workplace and the Supreme Court Case regarding servicing a gay couple who wanted a cake because the shop did not want to serve them has again caused an issue and threat to the gay community depending on how the court rules. The previous Transgender Bathroom case that the Supreme Court vacated in March 2017 also did not help advance the issue the Supreme Court sent it back to the Court of Appeals to decide.
In actuality, the misinformation about the transgender ban has been rampant, under existing court orders the government cannot discharge individuals for being transgender and cannot bar transgender people from enlisting starting January 1, 2018. The ACLU is fighting hard at all the gyrations the White House is issuing to stop transgender troops and their right to serve. The President’s ban stigmatizes and threatens transgender service members every day, those individuals are continuing to stand up for their rights and fight for what they have earned in their careers.
I wanted to write about the transgender military ban because it is important. LGBT rights are human rights. Trans rights are human rights. There are more transgender women of colour killed in the United States monthly than any other targeted group. With discrimination that is guised in the form of religious action being hurled against trans people, it is not anathema that many transgender people are afraid and scared for their lives. With everything that transgender individuals have to go through to be able to be their genuine self, things that make that even harder like laws to change names and birth certificates and gender markers, as well as surgeries to mesh the body with the mind and “align” to their genuine self, many transgender people come up against hurdles that are just insurmountable. Even surgeries can be exorbitant and out of the reach of many. In other cases home life, relationships, religion and work discrimination make it hard for others to be themselves or even to come out for threat of losing a loved one who does not understand or will not, or losing a career or support system.
In the grydscaen series there are two transgender characters: Sati Ima the Quadrion Isshin pilot who serves in the Pacific Territories military aboard the battleship Escalon and Iin the Prophetic trance channeler who counsels the leader of the Packrat hackers. Both of these characters were specifically crafted to represent the male and female transgender ends of the spectrum fitting into the requested gender roles. The character Blue is intersexed and non-binary and sits in the agender space.
My latest book The Seer of Grace and Fire includes the transgender heroine Ethesian who is magic weilder who plays the dragon lyre a female magic. Not to give away the story, she is a strong female in power who uses her position as a princess of the faerie and her knowledge of magic to assist her small party in the dire situation that is the coming of DarkFall, the anniversary of when all the male faerie newborns were killed. Ethesian is strong in her determination and sense of self and I wanted to write a strong female character who could relate to the world in her chosen gender ad be confident.
Because of the transgender stigma that still exists but to me seems stronger when it comes to transgender women, it was important to me to write this character into the story and see her interactions when she learns about her past which plays into the plot. With the tracking of the deaths of transgender women that the Human Rights Campaign does and then “rest in power” movement that surround celebrating their lives. It is important that there is representation of successful transgender women and men in literature as these groups are marginalized normally in mainstream media.
I wanted to give back and provide a voice to those transgender men and women who are not out and are suffering and cannot speak up or be their genuine selves in a place of safety. I also wanted to show that transgender and LGBT characters can live lives just like everyone else and be successful. Being transgender does not make someone weird or bad or strange. People are people and they should be able to be themselves without threat of being bullied or ridiculed, discriminated against or attacked.
I also wanted to write a coming of age story that involved a transgender character to provide strong role models for LGBT youth in a story about hope and strength.
Hopefully we will move forward and remove threats to transgender and LGBT rights. The United States has descended into the dark ages where freedoms are threatened and minorities are targets of the few in power and not the views of the majority. A blow to the strength and the majesty of the great democratic experiment has occurred due to apathy and lack of involvement in a system that many feel is corrupt. Without direct grass roots involvement more insane actions and deals that hurt the Middle Class and the majority will occur. A tyrant is a tyrant, the only way to silence them is to empower the individual and rise up.
Take back your power. Women, gay, lesbian, transgender, black, Asian, Hispanic, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, refugees – they are all part of the great experiment. Like the civil rights movement that went before in America and the Women’s movement which gained ground, it is once again time to stand up for Transgender and LGBT rights in the face of hatred and discrimination. Every little advance is a win. The hurdles may be high but the more voices the better.
We are all equal. Voila Qui Nous Sommes.
Sources: New York Times, NPR, CNN, Christian Science Monitor, Department of Defense website, ACLU
