Transgender Infantry

 Regardless of what the former administration did to discourage transgender service in the military, several trans troops managed to survive the purge. 

An example is Staff Sgt. Patricia King:

Staff Sgt. Patricia King did as many have done by trying to lose themselves in the masculinity of  the infantry. The difference, in this case, is 16-year veteran SSG King is still on active duty making her the very first out transgender infantry sergeant. SSgt King recently said to "Planet Transgender"

"Everyone else I know who was on active duty like myself felt strongly compelled to wait until after we got out to come out. It wasn’t a choice. Even back in the 80’s it was ok to be perceived as gay, especially in a shortage MOS (job classification)  like mine, no one would say anything unless you stood on the commanders desk and shouted it out."

King went on to say: " "I'm the first openly transgender infantryman in the Army," King said.The Army has accepted lesbians and gays into the ranks since 2011, but transgender life is a violation of regulations - a fireable offense. "These conditions render an individual administratively unfit rather than unfit because of physical illness or medical disability," Army regulations say."

Of course now as I write this, President Biden  lifted  the ban on service by transgender troops. Making Patricia Kings' service so much more remarkable. 

Trans Troop Reversal

 President Joe Biden will soon reverse the ban on transgender people serving openly in the military, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement Wednesday.

While the reversal was not one of the 15 actions the new administration announced it would take Wednesday, Day One of the Biden presidency, Psaki said it would be among the “additional executive actions” that will be taken “in the coming days and weeks.”

I'm sure you all know I am a transgender veteran and how good I feel about this.

2020...It is What it Was

 As we conclude the year 2020, it's easy to remember all the negatives. Primarily all the lives which were affected by the virus. Either by death or lingering physical effects. 

Other negatives seemed to be extra tough on those of us who deal with gender dysphoria. All of a sudden we were forced back into our closets from a overabundance of fear. The only socially redeeming value was the mask we hid behind and the socially distanced space we were encouraged to keep helped us all to present more effectively to a questioning world. Even the most innocent dinners out I enjoyed so much turned into an increasingly scary experience. During the year, I learned the hard way how I relied on gender feedback from the public to justify my gender feelings.  

Through it all, there still were positives. One of which of course was Benedict Donald losing the election. Donnie it seemed was totally for taking all rights away from the transgender population, even to the point of erasing us. Hopefully we will see President Elect Biden reverse rumps terrible transgender military ban quickly. At the least, there is hope for the New Year. 

Then there is the vaccine. I know it is not an immediate cure all to the pandemic but again it is a positive place to start. 

Similar to so many others, I have put together a few New Years' resolutions for 2021. Among other things I plan on returning to my meditation, writing more and trying to schedule at least one time a month when Liz and I can safely venture out of the house. In fact, we have already reserved two spots for a socially distanced paranormal adventure at a haunted opera house in Kentucky in January. After all, we don't want to pass along the virus to the ghosts :).  

Most of all, I would like to say Thank You to all of you who stopped by Cyrsti's Condo in 2020. Your input and visits make it all worthwhile.

Have a happy and productive 2021! Cheers!!!

Another Victory!

This one came in New Hampshire this week. From "Slate.Com":

On Wednesday, the New Hampshire Senate passed a landmark bill outlawing discrimination against transgender people in housing, employment, and public accommodations. The state House of Representatives has already passed the measure, and Gov. Chris Sununu has confirmed his intent to sign it. What’s remarkable about this victory is that Sununu is a Republican, and both houses of the state legislature are controlled by the GOP. Democrats pushed hard for the bill and supported with near-unanimity. But it was Republican legislators who carried it over the finish line.

This bipartisan triumph for transgender equality contrasts sharply with Donald Trump’s unrelenting assault on transgender rights. Indeed, it should be been seen as a rebuke to his persistent attacks on LGBTQ Americans. The Trump administration has revoked federal guidance protecting transgender students, employees, and homeless people. It is poised to attempt to repeal nondiscrimination protections for transgender patients under the Affordable Care Act. And, of course, it is striving to ban open transgender military service by arguing that trans people are mentally unstable deviants. Vice President Mike Pence and Attorney General Jeff Sessions are the driving force behind the onslaught: Pence intervened behind the scenes to overrule Secretary of Defense James Mattis’ support for trans service, while Sessions has issued a stream of directives designed to undermine LGBTQ rights under federal law

Another Victory

From NBC News:

A federal judge on Monday ruled that the government must allow transgender people to enlist in the military beginning on Jan. 1, 2018.

The order came after the government asked Washington, D.C., District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly if it could push back the Jan. 1 enlistment date, which was established under President Barack Obama.

Last month, Kotar-Kelly issued a preliminary injunction that blocked the Trump administration's plans to exclude transgender people from the military. She said the government had offered no solid evidence that showed why the ban was necessary.

“This is an important clarification because it means the military can’t do an end run around the judge’s decision,” said Jennifer Levi, of the GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, or GLAD, said about Monday's order.

GLAD and The National Center for Lesbian Rights represent the five longtime transgender military service members who sued the government in August, claiming that Trump’s efforts to ban transgender people from military service was unconstitutional and denied them equal rights and due process.

For more, go here.

Good News!

From my Yahoo News Feed:

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Tuesday current policy regarding transgender personnel serving in the military would remain in place until he advises President Donald Trump on how to implement his directive on a transgender ban.

Mattis said in a statement he would set up a panel of experts serving in the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security to provide recommendations on implementing the ban.

He said he would advise the president after the panel reports it recommendations, and "in the interim, current policy with respect to currently serving members will remain in place."

Trump signed a memorandum on Friday directing the U.S. military not to accept transgender men and women as recruits and halting the use of government funds for sex-reassignment surgeries for active personnel unless the process is already under way."

Hopefully, 45's attempt to throw the transgender troops under the bus to cover up his own shortcomings as a president will fail. The last I noticed, the American military needed all the competent troops it can recruit...transgender or not.

"M
eet 'Sam,' a tra

Freedom?

As much as we don't want to talk (or write) about it, last year from the Fourth of July to this year saw an increase in transgender awareness and how we are treated as we go forward.

Of course the Executive Order on restrooms from the President was huge as was the ruling on same sex marriage. Then there was the long awaited Pentagon's decision to allow open service from transgender members.

KKK Hate From Central Alabama

I knew for sure this morning how far we have come following the announcement from the KKK that they were boycotting transgender women and men. I look good in sheets?

 Then there were Jazz Jennings, Caitlin Jenner and Laverne Cox opening trans doors even further.

Fortunately, I know I have missed so many others just as involved, or as we have written here so often-those of you who help the cause by just going out and being yourself. Which at times is so difficult.

Hopefully by next year being transgender will be so blase I won't have to write about it at all. We will be free to finally join society as full citizens.

JJ's Sunday Edition

Ker Plunk! Another Sunday Edition is hitting your virtual front porch.
Weather: Ohio hot (90) but lower humidity. All in all not bad compared to others in West Virginia and out west in California. Sending good vibes your ways.

Page One:The Week that Was-or Wasn't: In our neck of the woods, post Orlando Pride celebrations continue with the local Cincinnati parade drawing over one hundred thousand. All went off without a hitch except I had a bad ankle and couldn't walk the route with my friends. It made me less than happy.




Page Two: Yesterday's Coffee-Opinion: During the week we mentioned a Mother's love for her transgender daughter. Yesterday my partner Liz brought me a brochure from the Cincinnati Children's Transgender Clinic. It is a wonderful facility which features services for children from 5-24, including puberty blockers, gender affirming hormones and others too numerous to mention. If you happen to live within the Cincinnati Ohio Metro area, they have three clinics. Plus, I am sure you are fortunate enough to live near a good sized city, similar services could be available, How great would it have been if all of us at the least would have had a chance at such a deal growing up!

Page Three: The Back Page: How great is the Pentagon has decided to lift transgender restrictions on active duty troops? It is supposed to occur on July 1st but no Connie, I am not going to "re-up"!

Well, "bad wheel" or not we have a busy day today. Thanks for spending your time to stop by JJ's!
Luv ya all :)

Finally!!!!

"On Friday, U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter announced the Pentagon will repeal the military’s active ban prohibiting transgender service members from serving openly, beginning on July 1. The decision to repeal came after recommendations from a working group examining the effect of lifting the ban, something Carter has previously indicated he favors.

According to USA Today, top military officials will meet as early as Monday, June 27, to finalize implementation of the plan. It would direct each branch of the armed services to roll out new policies reflecting the change in the areas of recruiting, housing and uniforms for transgender troops.

Last year, Carter all but indicated that repeal was in the works, and would only be halted if the working group concluded that removing the ban on transgender service members would have an “adverse impact on military effectiveness and readiness."

Being the doubter that I am, I have to say I thought the Pentagon would push this off until the next election. Who knows the nightmare that may bring!!!

Congratulations to this hard fought victory for all our actively serving transgender military members!

"Sort of Settled?"

From the Washington Blade: Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has invoked the ire an LGBT think-tank for saying the implementation of openly transgender military service is “complicated.” The Pentagon chief made the remarks last week at the Air Force Academy in Colorado when questioned by a cadet on the best way to help people adjust to the idea of transgender people in the armed forces. “This is a complicated issue, and I think it has a lot of ramifications that are very practical ones,” Carter said. Months after a launching a review of the ban prohibiting trans people from serving in the armed forces, Carter said the principle of enabling trans military service is “sort of settled.”

“What matters is people’s ability to contribute to our military,” Carter said. “That’s what matters. The only barriers we should ever erect to the principle are ones in which there are practical issues that we can’t work through.”

Expressing confidence the issues would be resolved, Carter concluded, “It’s the quality and readiness of the force that matters. That’s the goal. We keep that in front of us.”

The repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” enabled openly lesbian, gay and bisexual people to serve in the U.S. armed forces, but transgender people are still barred from open service as a result of medical regulation instituted in the 1980s.

- See more here.

As predicted, none of this was unexpected from the Pentagon. Washington after all is known for it's incompetent bureaucrats (Carter) who collect a paycheck and move on. 

I have screamed it before and I will again the greatest hypocrisy in this country is with  holding basic freedoms from the transgender military members who are on the front lines fighting for them. 

The Pentagon's "Hippocratic Oath."

Capt. Peace in civilian clothes

Every so often we read of the "huge strides" the branches of the American military are making towards granting transgender active military members the basic freedoms they are on the front line fighting for. Then I run across yet another story like this from the Cronkite News:

"When Capt. Jennifer Peace looks in the mirror, she sees a woman who serves her country like more than 200,000 other women in the military.

She wears a uniform, goes to work and serves like all the others. But when the Army looks at Capt. Peace, it sees a man.

Peace, an intelligence officer who has served a little more than 10 years in the Army, is a transgender soldier who came out in January to her unit at Fort Lewis, Washington. While her fellow soldiers have been supportive, Peace said, they still have to live by Army rules and are concerned about stepping over the line. She said soldiers working for her were told, “We use male pronouns. No one will use female pronouns with Capt. Peace.”

Many consider the current state of affairs with trans troops a throw back to the "don't ask-don't tell days" with gay and lesbians. But, as we all know, gender is a much deeper issue to not "ask or tell about."

Plus once again we are in the midst of yet ANOTHER Pentagon study on the situation, which will take us close enough to election time to see nothing decided AGAIN. And, after listening to the Republican debates I see all hope is lost with the next prez for LGBT rights.

Follow the link above for the full story.

It's Not Over Till It's Over

A couple transgender moments the other night caught my attention. One very positive and one exactly the polar opposite.

First I caught an episode of a show I wouldn't normally watch because of it's first transgender participant. I am talking about Big Brother and Audrey Middleton. She was as advertised: positively gorgeous and probably just as nervous. The good news is she arguably is one of the most attractive women on the show. The bad news is she is arguably one of the best looking women on the show. Why it is bad? People within and out of our transgender community think passing privilege is everything - it's not.

Take last night's incredibly tragic news that Jess Shipps a 31 year old transgender military activist had committed suicide for example. 

One of the gender transition problems is the frustrating fact you never seem to reach the "other side" in your mind. Assuming you have reached a certain level of "passing privilege" - then you have to face the daunting tasks of finding a mate, a job and all the other tasks of building a life. 

Then, what kind of life do you want?  The days of strutting yourself in front of your home mirrors, in the mall or at a gay venue are gone. Are you a "tom boy" or a "girly girl" and don't know it?

The problem also is-there is no right answer. The person you perceived you to be before transition maybe totally different than the one you become. 

Just don't put all your eggs into the "passing privilege" basket and know the transition process can be a life long process. Your rewards can be more than you ever imagined.  

Transgender Troops-More than Fighting the Enemy

In a "thank-goodness" moment, more transgender news has surfaced other than Caitlin Jenner.

It's estimated over 15,000 transgender troops serve in the U.S. Military.  But even though transgender people are twice as likely to serve in the military as their fellow citizens, current policy prohibits them from serving as openly transgender.
Today I picked up this story from Yahoo Health:

"Transgender Troops: At War, in Love, and Fighting to Serve Openly- by Molly Shea. "

Above you can see a transgender couple currently serving in the military. ( Logan and Laila) For more of the story and a video go here.