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Air Force Commander Addresses The Troops About Trans Service Members—And Gets It Right

A sliver of hope amid all the troubling news.

On Reddit, a member of the United States Air Force discussed a recent address by his commanding officer about transgender men and women in the military.

"The commander, not really understanding LGBT terms well, used note cards and gave a hard honest effort on describing differences between sex and gender, describing transition, and describing how it will work," wrote "Shuffledrive."

His superior applauded the hard work of all airmen "regardless of their gender identity" and vowed to personally work to ensure those who are transitioning receive the proper time off. "He further added that airmen will use the restroom of their identity on base, regardless of local laws, and any bigotry will not be tolerated."

"Shuffledrive" was honest about how the address was received: "At the end, there was absolute silence," he writes. "This shook a bunch of folk's world. He asked for questions, and a few honest questions came in [about terms like] nonbinary, gender fluidity, etc."

"He stammered a bit, said he'd try to figure it out," "Shuffledrive" added, "but said to just treat fellow service members the same regardless of gender identity."

The response on the thread was universally positive, with most commenters saying how glad they were that a commanding officer was treating trans service members with respect and understanding. One commenter, who is in the Army, called the Armed Forces "legitimately one of the most socially progressive institutions in the world."

"I'm in the Army and my wife is MTF transgender" wrote "droidball," "I remember before the repeal of DOMA... there was a Secretary of Defense directive outlining everything that military offices and bases could and would do, within the boundaries of national law, to accommodate same-sex couples (whether cisgender or transgender)... and to protect them from state-level discrimination."

He added that same-sex couples were explicitly authorized free vacation time to travel to the nearest state where same-sex marriage was legal to get married.

"Aside from being frustrated about the administrative paperwork of it all... nobody who matters in the military had an issue with it from the ground up," he shared. "Yeah, oddball douchbag idiots who hate [LGBT people], but nobody real—and low-level leaders either fixed, shut up, pushed out any actual LGBT discrimination. Like, got the perpetrators kicked out of the military."

In his experience, "droidball" wrote, the military doesn't care "about who or what or whatever you are, or who you want to f*ck or marry, as long as you can do the job and not get people hurt."

And he says that mindset predates changes in the law.

"I remember about eight years ago, when the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell was still in recent memory, I had senior leaders sincerely lamenting that they were forced by policy to initiate the discharging of very, very competent and capable service members because they were homosexual, bisexual, or transgender."

A First Sergeant told "droidball" one of the biggest regrets he had was having to force the discharge of a young soldier, because she was biologically male.

"She would show up, after the 9-5 duty hours, to help with issues like computers or the network (she was an Army IT person)... and would be wearing a skirt, or makeup, or a nightgown. She would do her job, not piss anyone off, and be an asset to the country. And we had to kick her out of the Army for it. The leaders of the time realized how ridiculous that was, but their hands were tied."

Fortunately the Armed Forces repealed its ban on transgender service members in 2016.

“This is the right thing to do for our people and for the force,” said Defense Secretary Ash Carter at the time. "We’re talking about talented Americans who are serving with distinction or who want the opportunity to serve. We can’t allow barriers unrelated to a person’s qualifications prevent us from recruiting and retaining those who can best accomplish the mission."

But there is understandable concern about the current administration's views on LGBT service members: Trump's pick for Secretary of the Army, Tennessee state Senator Mark Green, has a lengthy anti-LGBT record—including supporting transphobic bathroom bills and religious-freedom laws.

In his confirmation hearing Trump's Defense Secretary, James Mattis, claimed he wasn’t planning on changing the military’s policy on LGBT troops, at least not right away.

"I never cared much about two consenting adults and who they go to bed with,” Mattis testified. “I believe that right now, the policies that are in effect—unless the service chief brings something to me where there has been a problem that has been proven—then I’m not going in with the idea that I am going to review these and right away, start rolling something back."

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