http://www.advocate.com/commentary/2013/12/16/op-ed-what-its-being-trans-military-academiesAuthor: Brynn Tannehill Source: The Advocate
And despite the academy's joint statement with members of the institution's gay-straight alliance, Spectrum, claiming that the academy was a "safe and welcoming place to be [gay lesbian, bisexual, queer or questioning]" one anonymous and closeted cadet published a letter slamming the Academy's statement as "a self-serving crock."
[. . . ] and that's because military policy still bars transgender Americans from serving openly in the armed forces. When "don't ask, don't tell" was repealed in 2011, it had no impact on the military medical regulation that deems a transgender identity or any gender-confirming clinical treatment indicative of a mental illness that makes one unfit to serve.
Kyle, a transgender man who graduated this year from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, writes: [. . . ] I began transitioning while a still a cadet, so everyone noticed changes. Some classmates, and even instructors, who I viewed as mentors told me that they understood, but that they could and would not recognize who I was — "for my safety," of course. After I sidestepped all the fear and used all the courage I had to come out to them, they continued to misgender me, "for me." There's a different kind of indignity in being disallowed your identity.
Allison, a transgender midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, class of 2015, writes: The other day, my roommate called me over to his desk, saying he had something funny to show me, and then played a video that was very offensive to transgender people. I, of course, had to laugh and say it was funny, but inside I cringed and struck my roommate off the list of who to come out to in the near future.
