Two Different Perspectives

We are not fit to serve in the military is the administration’s position, but most military personnel don’t believe that and it includes many high ranking officers and the European military proves that we can serve.

Transgender pilot Ayla Holdom was invited to the last Royal wedding, but then all hell broke loose
ABC.au
One Plus One As told to Jane Hutcheon
April 24, 2018

Ayla Holdom is a helicopter pilot with the UK's National Police Air Service. She was a flight lieutenant in the Royal Air Force for 13 years, serving in the search and rescue team with Prince William before she was outed as transgender by the tabloid media.

She's in Australia with her wife Wren Holdom, whom she married prior to her transition, for the opening of Still Point Turning — a play about her friend, former Army speechwriter and transgender officer Catherine McGregor. Ayla shared her story with One Plus One's Jane Hutcheon.

Her story is familiar to many of us… burying ourselves in masculine jobs.

I imagined if I could just do the next thing … if I went to university, joined the military, became a pilot, ticking all these boxes, that would complete me, that would make me feel right and I could settle down and feel complete or happy.

But it didn’t work and she transitioned in the military.

I worked in the search and rescue unit with Prince William and I was invited to his wedding. This was during my period of coming out to my friends and colleagues.

During that process, at some point, somebody — I don't know who — went to The Sun newspaper and they ran this article.

The headline — thankfully it's been removed from the internet now — was "Will's Pal Loses his Chopper"

Anything to sell papers, even if it wrecks lives.

I felt attacked and vilified by people I'd never met and betrayed by whoever went to the press. Prince William was joining our unit. I was worried about the effect that this would have on him and the attention it would draw.

But this is about her, it is about trans people in the military and her experience was exemplary.

I had been lucky because the armed forces had policies in place since the turn of the century. I wasn't the first transgender person in the armed forces by any stretch.

Here in the colonies, military leaders are standing up for us and coming out in support of us in the military.

All 4 service chiefs on record: No harm to units from transgender service
Military Times
By: Tara Copp
April 24, 2018

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Dave Goldfein told Congress Tuesday he was not aware of any negative effects from transgender personnel serving, joining all three other service chiefs in a rare public split with President Donald Trump over the issue.

Sen. Kristen Gillibrand, D-N.Y., as she had with the top military leaders of the Army, Navy and Marine Corps when they appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee for their budget hearings, used the opportunity to question Goldfein as to whether he was aware of any “issues of unit cohesion, disciplinary problems or issues of morale resulting from open transgender service.”

“In the last two weeks Gen. [Mark] Milley, Gen. [Robert] Neller, and Adm. [John] Richardson have told me that they have seen zero reports of issues of cohesion, discipline, morale as a result of open transgender service in their respective service branches,” Gillibrand said, referring to the chiefs of staff of the Army, Marine Corps and Navy, respectively.
[…]
Likewise, in earlier testimonies, when the three other service secretaries were asked if they had heard of any harm to unit cohesion or other problems, they responded:

Navy: “By virtue of being a Navy sailor, we treat every one of those Navy sailors, regardless, with dignity and respect,” said Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson. “That is warranted by wearing the uniform of the United States Navy. By virtue of that approach, I am not aware of any issues.”

Marine Corps: “By reporting those Marines that have come forward, there’s 27 Marines that have identified as transgender, one sailor serving. I am not aware of any issues in those areas,” said Marine Commandant Gen. Robert Neller.

Army: “We have a finite number. We know who they are, and it is monitored very closely, because, you know, I’m concerned about that, and want to make sure that they are, in fact, treated with dignity and respect. And no, I have received precisely zero reports,” said Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley.

But Trump continues to listen to people like Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council which has been labeled as a “hate organization” by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The four service chiefs, along with the chief of the National Guard Bureau and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford, comprise the president’s top circle of military advisers. Each service chief’s testimony marked an unusual split with the president and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who have advised that allowing personnel with gender dysphoria to serve would harm unit cohesion and present an “unreasonable burden on the military.”

It is going to be interesting to hear how Trump and company is going to justify the ban in court, what research that they cite.

The rest of the NATO countries allow trans service members with affecting their readiness and I foresee doing the same after a court fight all the way up to the Supreme Court.