House Armed Forces Committee Hearing On Trump Trans Troop Ban Happening Soon

This is why elections matter.

When the Democrats got control of the US House, what that also meant is that when this session of the 116th Congress started, every committee got a new chairperson that is a Democratic Party member, with the Republicans sliding into the Ranking Member seat. 

It also goes without saying that Democratic majorities, like the House, .are ensconced in every committee and subcommittee.

Rep Jackie Speier (D-CA) is the new head of the House Armed Services Committee Military Personnel Subcommittee.

In the wake of the SCOTUS unjust ruling  lifting two of the three injunctions blocking implementation of the odious Trump trans military ban, a hearing of this subcommittee has been scheduled for February 27 to discuss it according to reporting by Chris Johnson of the Washington Blade.

The hearing on 'Transgender Service Policy' will feature transgender member of our armed services along with  Trump administration officials.

Set to testify on that date at 2 PM EST are Army Captain Alivia Stehlik, Army Captain Jennifer Peace, Army Staff Sgt. Patricia King, Navy Corpsman and Petty Officer 3rd Class Patricia King  Navy Lt. Commander Blake Dremann and Navy Hospital Corpsman and Petty Officer 3rd Class Akira Wyatt

Peace and Dremann were some of the trans service members invited to attend the recent State of the Union message.

Jesse Ehrenfeld MD, who is now at the Vanderbilt School of Medicine, is also set to testify as a combat veteran deployed to Afghanistan.

The Trump administration people invited to testify are James Stewart, who is performing the duties of the undersecretary of readiness and defense, and Vice Admiral Raquel Bono, who heads the Defense Health Agency.

Some of the Democratic legislators that sit on that subcommittee are Rep Deb Haaland (D-NM)

The hearing will take place in Room 2118 of the Rayburn House Office Building, so if you wish to go as community members to support our trans troops and live in the DC area, I hope that you can do so.

Trump Reinstates Trans Military Service Ban

Every day Donald Trump proves what those of us who were paying attention during the 2016 presidential election already knew.  That he is not only incompetent and unfit to be POTUS, but was no friend of the TBLGQ community

Today he unleashed a series of tweets in which he stated that the armed forces ban on transgender military service that had been rescinded just last year by President Obama was being reinstated citing the BS reason of costs.

It's also bitterly ironic that he did so on the same day 69 years ago that President Harry S. Truman issued the executive order that desegregated the US military in 1948.

Two studies done by the RAND Corporation in June 2016 and another that was done in September 2015 and published in the New England Journal of Medicine basically came to the same conclusions that the medical gender transition costs that Trump and Republican opponents rail against would be minimal.

The RAND Corporation study estimated that there were 1,320 to 6,630 active duty trans service members, and projected that those costs would be $2.4 million to $8.4 million, which is only a 0.04 to 0.13 % increase in the budget.  

It also pointed out that not all current active duty trans military service members would seek gender transitioning treatment, and that 0.1%  of those service members would seek treatments that could delay a deployment.

The September 2015 study estimated that it would cost $4.2 million to $5.6 million and of the 12,500 service members, less than 200 would seek medical gender transition related care.

The US military's annual healthcare budget is $47.8 billion dollars.

The brand new aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford at $13 billion cost more to build than the negligible annual transition related healthcare for trans service members.

And I feel today for all those trans veterans like Carla, who proudly served this country and fought for your right to hate us. 

One of those 15,000 military trans people you peeps are hating on, is serving out nation and currently deployed in Air Force SSgt Logan Ireland.  He had this to say about the announcement.

"For my President to deny an able bodied, fully qualified person the inherent right to raise their right hand and serve their country, potentially giving their own life for our freedoms, is doing this country an injustice. I would love for my President to meet me so I can tell him about the 15,500 honorably serving transgender military members that are fighting right now for their liberties and for their country." -Air Force SSgt Logan Ireland

It most definitely is an injustice to not allow trans Americans to serve their nation like everyone else who gets the choice to do.  18 other nations allow their trans citizens to serve in their military

It's also infuriating to me as a trans African American to hear the same lies that were told to attempt to justify Jim Crow military segregation being retooled to aim at transpeople who wish to openly serve our country.

But then again 45 and his party don't care about your human rights unless you are a white male wealthy Republican.

Openly Trans Service Member Promoted To Navy Lt. Commander

After fighting for this policy for years, since July 1, transgender members of the US Armed Forces can openly serve in our nation's military.   Ending the ban on trans troops was groundbreaking for the 15,500 trans people who are serving our country and allowed them to focus on just being the best service members they can be and not have to worry if they are going to be tossed out of the service.

It's now two months after that historic announcement, and trans history was recently made when Navy Lt. Commander Blake Dremann became the first open trans service member to be promoted post open service in a ceremony also attended by his parents in the President's Room of the Navy Memorial in Washington DC.

On his promotion stage as he advanced to  Lt. Commander from Lieutenant, everyone was transgender, including the persons who emceed the event in Air Force Major Bryan Fram and the person administering the oath in Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Operational Energy Amanda Simpson,

Simpson herself made history when she in 2010 became the first trans feminine presidential appointee, and is now the highest ranking trans person in the Department of Defense.  

Dremann is used to firsts in his 10 year Navy career.  In 2011 he was one of the first female bodied persons to integrate submarine crews.  He has been deployed 11 times and since 2015 has been stationed inside the Pentagon.

And in his off duty time, Lt Commander Dremann has succeeded Army vet Sue Fulton as president of SPART*A, which has over 500 trans active duty or veteran members.

But as Assistant Secretary Simpson said in her concluding remarks, "Today isn't about firsts.  This ceremony is about following the grand traditions of the United States Navy and the high standards of trust and service and thus specifically, Blake Dremann.   That is why we are all here."

And if we make a little trans history along the way, that's all good, too.
 

US Trans Military Service Ban Repealed!

"Effective immediately, transgender Americans can serve openly, and they no longer can be discharged...just for being transgender.”
Defense Secretary Ash Carter

After a year of study, a historic moment for American trans people happened today as Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced moments ago that the longstanding DOD policy ban on trans people serving openly in the biggest baddest military force on our planet has been repealed.

Of course we will hear the conservafool movement freak out about the military not being 'a place for social engineering', but they said the same thing back in 1947 after Harry Truman desegregated the military and in the aftermath of DADT repeal in 2010.

This announcement by Sec. Carter comes as a major relief to the estimated 15,500 trans people currently serving in our armed forces. It also allows trans people who wish to join and serve in our military to be able to do so.

There are 18 nations, including several NATO allies like Great Britain that have allowed trans people to openly serve in their nation's military forces without incident, and Canada has allowed it for over 20 years.

"Americans who want to serve and meet our standards should be afforded the opportunity to do so," said Secretary Carter. "Implementation will begin today."

That implementation of the policy will take place over the next year, and it is a day that we in Trans World who have served, are serving or wish to serve in our nation's military have been awaiting for a while..