Pentagon Set to Remove Ban on Transgender Military Personnel

The Associated Press reports that the Pentagon is currently working on removing the ban preventing transgender people from serving in the military. An estimated 15,000 transgender people are currently serving in the military. There’s no current information on how many transgender personnel have been discharged for being trans.

This is a fairly big step as trans issues are beginning to take the center stage in the public eye. But it is incredibly important to realize that there are still some very basic needs that are not being addressed, here. According to the HRC (who have their own issues in dealing with trans rights), trans people can still be fired for being trans in 32 states. 46% of trans men and 42% of trans women report attempting suicide once in their lives, according to the Williams Institute.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to put down this move. It’s going to improve the lives of a lot of people who are currently still hiding in the closet for fear of losing their career. But as we’re always so fond of saying: the fight isn’t over. Let’s keep going.

(via Jezebel, image via Shutterstock/FreshStudio)

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Jessica Lachenal

Jessica Lachenal is a writer who doesn’t talk about herself a lot, so she isn’t quite sure how biographical info panels should work. But here we go anyway. She's the Weekend Editor for The Mary Sue, a Contributing Writer for The Bold Italic (thebolditalic.com), and a Staff Writer for Spinning Platters (spinningplatters.com). She's also been featured in Model View Culture and Frontiers LA magazine, and on Autostraddle. She hopes this has been as awkward for you as it has been for her.

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