Transgender Veterans: Beyond ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ transgender vets face different discrimination

Editor’s note: Autumn Sandeen, the source for this story, requested a male pronoun be used to refer to her during her 20 years of military service.




Full Article



Long, but well worth the full read.

this ENDA vote pisses me off.

"Although there is growing dissent for “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the military’s prohibition against GLBT people serving openly, the transgender community faces different discriminations yet to be addressed: Because, should transgender service members choose to disclose their gender variant, they risk administrative discharges that carry a social stigma and loss of medical benefits or support, to list two."

I had never thought about this issue, transgendered in the military. I am saving the article to read more thoughtfully later.

Thanks again Buffy for something else to think about.

Edit to add Lately I have been thinking about transgendered and farming/ranching because that has been an issue here in Kansas. Pretty much the same kind of deal.

The plight of TG veterans never crossed my mind either. DADT is in the news so much that most people are aware of GLB soldiers, but there's little out there about TGs in the military.

Edit to add Lately I have been thinking about transgendered and farming/ranching because that has been an issue here in Kansas. Pretty much the same kind of deal.


I can imagine. It's becoming more of an issue everywhere--or at least more of a visible issue--particularly in fields considered traditionally "masculine". And among groups of those thought to be more progressive there are people who just don't understand transgenderism and the associated concerns and problems.

to even begin to understand it. Thankfully I have many friends who gently guide me when I don't get it. It is very complex but beneath it all is a human being who is not only uncomfortable in their own skin but someone who has to fight even harder to be recognized as a whole, sane person. It honestly took me a long while to begin to get it. I was never bothered by it as some people are (and really, if you think about it many people have a lot to overcome themselves before they can even consider it) but I really did not get it. I think my trans friends are probably the most brave people I know, they are ranching and farming in the middle of lots of hate. Now we learn there are more in the military. Wow, that must be really hard for them. This is important. If I did not recommend it before I will now.

But my education in Psych and thirst for understanding helped me a great deal. What GLB individuals have to put up with is bad enough. Feeling like you're in the wrong body must be so much worse because you simply can't escape that short of SRS, and you have the stigma and harassment on top of that all.

I know some ftm's who are in the military, and others who were, as females. The military life starts out as a compromise, a male-oriented way of living without transition. It remains an incomplete solution, though, where gender is pointed out constantly and where a female doing exactly as a male is doing is not in fact doing the "right thing". Every little detail becomes an irritant.

It's just dumb. Hormonal transition doesn't have to affect military readiness; yes, a person's got to take a shot every two weeks or wear a patch or take a pill, but that is not necessarily a problem. Surgical transition does temporarily affect soldier readiness, but only temporarily. The social aspects of it, though, would be where the biggest problems would come in. Not to put too fine a point on it, but transgendered soldiers would be targets for rape and other violence. That benefits nobody. Change can't come without challenge, though... it might be a risk that individual soldiers should be allowed to take.

Those anti-transgendered attitudes might be too much to overcome right now to allow transgendered soldiers to serve through transition, but no way in hell should they be tolerated in the treatment of veterans.

But in the attitudes and behaviors of the other soldiers and the administration. Those who would discriminate against them and even inflict physical violence on them. But it's been the same story every time they've tried to integrate a new group into the military; non-whites, women, the ongoing effort for gays and now TGs. :-(