On this Memorial Day it is important to remember that there are trans servicemembers who are trans.
However there are those who don’t want us serving…
All those that want to serve should be able to serve as long as they meet the physical requirements.
Even though we now can serve in the military remember with a stroke of a pen that right can be taken away. Helath.mil writes in the article, The Impact of Stigma on Transgender Service Members and ReadinessChange to policy allows transgender Soldiers to serve openly
Army News Service
By Devon Suits
June 24, 2021Transgender personnel and individuals with gender dysphoria who can meet the Army's standards for military service can now serve openly in their self-identified gender, according to a new policy approved this month by the Army secretary.
Army directive 2021-22 changes the service’s retention, separation, in-service transition, and medical care standards for transgender personnel and refines entry criteria for individuals with gender dysphoria, following Department of Defense guidance, said Maj. Gen. Douglas F. Stitt, military personnel management director.
"People are the strength of our Army," Stitt said Tuesday. "Our ability to assess and retain qualified personnel provides a more diverse and stronger Army, enhancing readiness.”
A Soldier's gender identity will no longer be a basis for involuntary separation or military discharge, denied reenlistment or continuation of service, or subjected to adverse action or mistreatment, the policy states.
While stigma and barriers to care can impact every member of our society, their effects may be more pronounced amongst historically marginalized groups such as transgender and gender diverse (TGD) service members. The DOD does not maintain data on gender identity, but the 2015 DOD Health Related Behaviors Survey found that roughly six in every thousand active duty respondents identified as transgender. The most recent HRBS (conducted in 2018) did not report information on gender identity.
A recently published study carried out by researchers at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences considered how stigma and barriers to care may impact TGD service members. They surveyed 177 TGD service members in the active component who were recruited through social media advertisements, flyers posted on military installations, and referrals from other participants. Researchers found that nearly two-thirds of survey respondents experienced at least one stigmatizing interaction in health care settings or encountered a barrier to accessing gender-affirming care. Roughly 60% of respondents reported having trouble accessing transition-related health services. Around 28% of those surveyed reported having a health care professional characterize their gender identity as a mental health issue. Just over 22% of TGD respondents said that they had been referred by their provider to mental health services even when they did not have concerns with their mood. Finally, 13% of respondents said that health care providers had made cruel remarks, ridiculed them, or called them names.2 While referrals to mental health may be perceived as (or may be) stigmatizing, it is important to note that current policy (DHA-PI 6025.21) requires a diagnosis of gender dysphoria (a condition typically diagnosed by mental health professionals) before service members are eligible for gender-affirming care. Additionally, methodological issues such as instrumentation and sampling strategy may limit the generalizability of the study findings.
Rubio, Banks Introduce Bill to Regulate Transgender Service in U.S. Military
Feb 16, 2023 | Press Releases
Under President Joe Biden, people who identify as transgender or have gender dysphoria can serve openly in the U.S. military. Senator Rubio’s legislation would prohibit any individual with a history or diagnosis of gender dysphoria from serving in the military, with limited exceptions. The legislation builds on Trump era restrictions that were repealed by the Biden Administration, but adds more stringent requirements and revamps the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS) to ensure all service members’ gender markers match their biological sex.
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) introduced the Ensuring Military Readiness Act to regulate transgender service.
“The military has strict standards for who can and cannot qualify to serve. For example, under President Biden, you can’t serve with a peanut allergy. Biden has turned our military into a woke social experiment. It is a stupid way to go about protecting our nation. We need to spend more time thinking about how to counter threats like China, Russia, and North Korea and less time thinking about pronouns.” – Senator Rubio
All those that want to serve should be able to serve as long as they meet the physical requirements.
*When I say "We" I mean the trans community
"Even though we now can serve in the military remember with a stroke of a pen that right can be taken away."
ReplyDeleteThat is one big trouble with this system. A law is a law on the books one day off the next. It seems folks just can't get that through their thick heads and prefer to go round and round. But so many want to be a part of this, as Dorthay Day said, "dirty rotten system." They clamor for inclusion into straight society, wanting to fit. Fitting in will not make those who hate us like us any more than they do now. In fact when the fascists really begin to roll their ball it is going to be all over in our court. I like what feminist Socialist Gloria Martin had to say. When Gloria was elected Seattle RW organizer in 1990, at the age of 74, she said: “We have to fight for survival issues, but then we have to go further. We have to change the system, or we’ll be fighting all our lives for the same thing. When people have had enough, revolution can hap- pen suddenly. Our job is to be ready for it.”
Yes, reform only works if the right party is in office if not all that we fought for can indeed be lost with the stroke of a pen. So, love the system and that is what you all will get. A stroke of a pen erasing you at first inch by inch and then WHAM, it's all over. Some will fight back, some will be sheep, some will flee for the high hills, but all will know that the system that we loved so much hates us, the system that many of us fought for in wars will destroy us, and the system that we thought had produced a great freedom will show its true genocidal colors.