Posted on Oct 22, 2014
Transgender Service Members: Serving in Silence
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Despite the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010', transgender people are still banned from serving in the military. To this day, if it is discovered that any service man or woman identifies as a transgender, he or she would be separated from serving. Do you think this is fair? Should transgendered individuals be accepted for military service?
Policy
Transgender
LGBTQ+
Command Post
Edited >1 y ago
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 249
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I've given this a lot of thought and a lot of study on the subject. I totally feel that ANYONE has the right to serve as long as they are healthy and are gun hoo to our Country. Who am I to tell someone that they can't serve? And that's including a transgender who by the way is really just a person who is of the gender who is in the wrong body. A lot of medical study has been done on this and these folks are not "sick" whats so ever. I actually do know some and they are Police Officers and Doctors etc. They are totally professional in both in their jobs and at home. You would never know that they were "trans". I have heard a lot of hatred type of things said towards them and it is only because people don't know about the subject matter and or just don't care to take the time to look it up and OR rather listen and read the garbage crap on it. Having been an NCO and a Soldier comes to me and tells me that their transgender, I would be very understanding and try my best to get them the help they needed. I would hate to lose that Soldier specially if their a good one....
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Hmm, we don't allow Insulin dependent diabetics to serve, nor do we let the blind serve, is that fair? If your too fat for your respective service you are not allowed in, or have meet height and weight standards. If your mental capacity is not high enough we don't let you serve. If you have split personalities we don't let you serve, if you are a convicted axe murderer we don't let you serve. If you can't speak English you can't serve, excessive acne can't serve, If your to tall we won't you serve, too short we won't let you serve, and yet, out of all of these discriminatory practices no one is griping accept for those who are confused about their sexual gender? Not trying to be a smart a** but what makes them special?
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CW3 Kevin Storm
LTJG (Join to see) - Current restriction keep them out of the service, the point I am making is there are restriction on a lot of people for various reasons. Some of those reasons are for medical, some for psychological, and some are for conduct in the past. As we open more doors, we should also look to see what is around the corner, something this administration has been slow to figure out. There are those troops who will have issues with this, and setting them down in front of another power point lecture is not going to be the fix. The assumption that power point fixes all, or at least allows us to tell Congress we briefed everyone is at best a cop out at the highest levels of leadership.
There are people serving with a host of issues, whether it be PTSD, sexual assault in service, as a child, dyslexia, vision and other issues. It is the individuals who decides if they choose to tell anyone. The same with sexual orientation or what sex you think you are, to that end many of us are tired of having these issues thrown in our faces 24 hours a day. I give a damn about Bruce or Caitlyn or what ever name she is going by.
So if tomorrow the Commandant of US Naval Academy decides he is going to wear a ball room gown and spiked heels at the graduation ceremony your okay with that? Would it be okay if he were in the receiving line at the White House and Vladimir Putin and the Russian Defense Minister were coming for a state dinner? I know you are going to say that would never happen, but if it were possible?
There are people serving with a host of issues, whether it be PTSD, sexual assault in service, as a child, dyslexia, vision and other issues. It is the individuals who decides if they choose to tell anyone. The same with sexual orientation or what sex you think you are, to that end many of us are tired of having these issues thrown in our faces 24 hours a day. I give a damn about Bruce or Caitlyn or what ever name she is going by.
So if tomorrow the Commandant of US Naval Academy decides he is going to wear a ball room gown and spiked heels at the graduation ceremony your okay with that? Would it be okay if he were in the receiving line at the White House and Vladimir Putin and the Russian Defense Minister were coming for a state dinner? I know you are going to say that would never happen, but if it were possible?
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LTJG (Join to see)
CW3 Kevin Storm - A common misconception about transgender people is that they change who they are day to day, or in other words they are seen as unstable. Therefore people, especially those of us in the military, do not wake up one day and suddenly decide they want to dress like a drag queen for work that day. I am fairly certain that the Commandant of the academy is not transgender, nor would he suddenly want to wear a gown to the graduation ceremony. Besides, even female senior officers do not get to wear a ballgown and spiked heels to the graduation ceremony, because females do exist in our military and they have uniforms too. Also, not all transgender people like to wear gowns and heels all the time.
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CW3 Kevin Storm
LTJG (Join to see) - Fair enough, but there will be those who will have issues with this, and at the speed it is going to be implemented at. Respect is a two way street, and I think (and this is my opinion) the DoD has not done the greatest job at integration of homosexuals, dealing with suicides, or sexual harassment. I am in the Guard, so it may be different on your end. Death by Power Point, IMHO has never fixed anything, nor will fix anything, accept check the box.
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LTJG (Join to see)
CW3 Kevin Storm - PowerPoint does not help much, this is true. There will always be people who have issues with black people, women, homosexuals, and so on. It is my job as a leader to promote the best environment that I can, and to ensure the acceptance and support of all my sailors. I can't necessarily change the individual opinions of sailors to be more accepting, but I can enforce tolerance and provide resources. If one of my sailors has a problem with another one of my sailors because they are female, or gay, or transgender, they will have to deal with me. There hasn't been a recent "integration" of homosexuals or even transgender people in the military. We've been here since the beginning of the armed forces centuries ago. Integration isn't the issue, discrimination is.
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By the way, I find it interesting that many people who can accept the premise of fictional shows like Star Trek-and it's federation of multi-stellar-species-racial counterparts cannot yet accept our reality here on Earth. Star Trek, of course, was ahead of our time.
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It's really ridiculous. Non issue. Yes, they should be separated. They cannot be spending their time of their "issue". They need to be paying attention. A good soldier pays attention to the matters at hand. All the other stuff goes to the back of the stove...Just ridiculous. Being armed and ready is what soldiers focus on....Action and focus necessary, not someone who is caught up in a mental dilemma.
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I said before and I will say it again, if our leaders change the policy we will adapt and carry on, if not we will carry on. We follow orders and we will lay our lives down for anyone in our unit to save theirs.
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I will repeat that ALL generalizations about people are false including this one.
This applies to any and all groups. Any statement made about a group that is all inclusive is simply false.
This applies to any and all groups. Any statement made about a group that is all inclusive is simply false.
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The Military is just a microcosm of our society, things eventually change, even in the military... Most of the active duty people here probably don't remember when Drill Sergeants laid hands upon trainees on a normal day to day basis. That has changed, and change is going to happen. Those who resist tend to be filtered out I guess....
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So if I identify as Female, do I get to use their PT standard?
I mean it's who I am on the inside right?
Where does it stop?
I mean it's who I am on the inside right?
Where does it stop?
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CPT (Join to see)
An excellent question. Physiologically, they are male, regardless of which gender they identify with. Im sorry I missed this topic months ago. I was rolling out to OCS at the time, and it looks like I missed all the fun.Â
It seems to be a matter of practical application of standards as much as anything.
We simply don't have the resources to determine a standard for every single possible gender/mental/emotional/social identity out there.
It seems to be a matter of practical application of standards as much as anything.
We simply don't have the resources to determine a standard for every single possible gender/mental/emotional/social identity out there.
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CPL S Gibbs
CPT (Join to see) - This is taking soldiers away from what is most impt. it is a waste of time ...Non issue. Much larger issues to consider....Too many non loving Americans as our next door neighbors. that's what we should be paying attention to.
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Haven't we had a bunch of threads on this recently? I don't see the issue with trans persons serving openly. I've had the pleasure of knowing several trans veterans, and they were all exceptional members of their respective services. Follow along with public examples like Senior Chief (SEAL) Kristen Beck and I have to wonder at the actual logic behind not allowing them to serve openly. Not that it excuses her actions, but if Chelsea Manning had been able to serve openly and seek help, is it possible she would have been able to continue to serve honorably instead of betraying her oaths?
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