Chuck Does an About Face?

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel told ABC News’ Martha Raddatz that he believes the ban that prohibits transgender individuals from serving in the U.S. military should be reviewed.

“I do think it continually should be reviewed,” Hagel said. “I’m open to that.”

After the 2010 repeal of the policy barring gay and lesbian service members from being open about their sexuality, known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” activists turned their attention to the transgender policy, calling on the military to allow transgender individuals to serve openly. But there has been no review of the ban. Earlier this month, a Pentagon spokesperson told Slate, “At this time there are no plans to change the department’s policy.”

But in an exclusive interview that aired on “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” Hagel said he’s now ready to reconsider the ban.

“I’m open to those assessments, because — again, I go back to the bottom line — every qualified American who wants to serve our country should have an opportunity if they fit the qualifications and can do it,” he said. Transgender issues are “an area that we’ve not defined enough.”

Hagel said his biggest concern is providing the medical support necessary to support transgender individuals, especially if they are stationed in what he called “austere locations.

Maybe the light at the end of the tunnel is not the train for transgender service members.

TransMilitary Documentary Coming

To mark International Transgender Day of Visibility on Monday, the producers of TransMilitary, a documentary centered around the lives of transgender service members in the U.S. and U.K., released a new trailer. TransMilitary is being led by former OutServe/SLDN executives Allyson Robinson and Zeke Stokes in an effort to shed light on the transgender military experience, and to apply pressure on the U.S. government to end the ban on transgender military personnel. Check out the trailer here on the Cyrsti's Condo big screen: It's strong!!!!!!!!!!

Unfit To Serve?

As previously mentioned here in Cyrsti's Condo,  transgender Army veteran Allyson Robinson was named to head the  Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) and OutServe, the association of actively serving LGBT military personnel.

 Robinson assumes the post as the two organizations are slated to finalize their combination this weekend. A native of Scranton, Pa., Robinson is a 1994 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, where she majored in physics. After an internship at Los Alamos National Laboratory, she was commissioned as an officer in the Army and commanded PATRIOT missile units in Europe and the Middle East. She also served as a senior trainer/evaluator for NATO and as an advisor to the armed forces of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar.

I know I'm speaking to the choir here but somehow I'm thinking transgender service people such as Allyson might just ruin all the stereotypes the U.S. Military has for refusing to let us serve.

Hypermasculinity and the Transgender Vet

A new study is being released this fall on the connection between the military and transgender vet according an article in San Diego by Beth Ford Roth:
"A soon -to-be  published study claims men who served in the military were twice as likely to consider themselves transgender as men who were not veterans.
The study by Air Force veteran and psychologist George Brown  looked at more than 5 million veterans as subjects."

The study went on to say many joined the the service to become a "real man" and was a way of suppressing their gender dysphoria.
No real surprise. Right?
I'm a little different in that I was a "draft induced" vet from the Vietnam era and the exclusion for genetic females was yet another cause to yearn to jump the gender fence.

In her article Roth contacted the Pentagon for a reaction to the upcoming release.
 Their official reaction was quoting the Dept of Defense regulation that states transgender people are not allowed to serve in the military.
(Other than the ones who have served, do serve and will serve-of course)
This does give the Pentagon time to bring in a fresh load of sand to stick their heads into and further ignore the status of current transgender servicemen and women.
They also can stock in extra whip lash medication for future neck trauma. An injury sustained by violently turning your head the other way.