The Williams Institute has released a new study: Still Serving in Silence: Transgender Service Members and Veterans in the National Transgender Discrimination Survey. The study was drawn from the data collected from the previously released National Transgender Discrimination Study, in which 6450 transgender people took part in an extensive survey performed by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the National Center for Transgender Equality.
The Williams study, performed by Jack Harrison-Quintana and Jody L. Herman, found that 20% of respondents had served in the military, as compared to 10% of the US general population.
This study finds that transgender veterans experience substantial barriers in these areas and also experience high rates of family rejection and homelessness.
--the Williams Institute
Despite the repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' this study highlights the ongoing discrimination faced by transgender people who serve in the military.
--Jody Herman
The introduction lays out a significant case study:
On 19 September 2008, United States District Judge James Robertson ruled in favor of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Colonel Diane Schroer, finding that the Library of Congress had engaged in illegal employment discrimination against Schroer. The Library of Congress had revoked Schroer’s job offer after learning she planned to transition from the sex she was assigned at birth—male—to live in accordance with her gender identity as a woman. Schroer had been an Airborne Ranger–qualified Special Forces officer and received numerous decorations over her twenty-five-year career with the Army, including the Defense Superior Service Medal. When Schroer transitioned from male to female after retirement from active duty, these accomplishments did not protect her against anti-transgender employment discrimination. In some ways, Schroer’s story is unique because she was decorated, ranked highly, and was uniquely qualified for the job she sought. But this case raises the question: if Diane Schroer, with all of her accomplishments, faced employment discrimination, then what are the experiences of other transgender veterans?
On September 20, 2011 10 U.S.C. § 654 (DADT) ended, allowing people of all sexual orientations to serve openly. But that event did not allow transgender people to serve, because it was not DADT which disallowed our service. The prohibition is rather in the military medical code, which excludes from consideration anyone which "psychosexual disorders," which are demmed to include transsexualism, cross-dressing, or a history of gender transition.
So the authors asked the question,
What is the situation for transgender service members, potential service members, and veterans today?
George Brown’s first study of transgender veterans described a motivation to join the armed forces that was common among those who had transitioned from male to female (Brown 1988). Brown named this motivation “flight into hypermasculinity,” which describes the desire to join the armed forces in an attempt to “correct” or repress feelings of incongruence of sex assigned at birth and gender identity (Brown 1988, 531). Brown hypothesized that the flight into hypermasculinity among transgender people assigned male at birth would result in an overrepresentation of transgender women in the U.S. military.
And then there were also people like me, who were forced to serve by the draft laws in the Vietnam Era. Bur not everyone is like me.
I am a patriotic and God-fearing twenty-one-year-old male (of transsexual history) from a military family . . . I want to serve my country, badly, and think about this constantly.
I scored high enough to go into the military and die for our country as a ranking officer—but I was denied because of my genitals not matching what my gender
marker was on my license.
What bothers me most is I’ll never get to join the military. That breaks my heart . . . as I grow older I am really beginning to think if I am not able to serve my country like that in some way, it’s going to be one of my regrets in life.
82% of respondents reported that they were Caucasian, while 11% said they were multi-racial. 68% reported they were transwomen, while 9% were transmen, 18% were male cross-dressers, 1% were female cross-dressers, and the remainder claimed the sobriquet "gender-queer." 37% were in the 25-44 age group, 29% were 45-54, and 22% were 55-64. 42% transitioned between the ages of 25 and 44, while 50% transitioned after the age of 45. fifty-two percent described themselves as "generally out", with the remainder saying they were closeted.
36% of transgender veterans lost a job due to anti-trans bias, while 53% were not hired for a job for the same reason. 54% reported being harassed at work because of their gender identity or presentation, while 9% experienced physical violence at work and 8% experienced sexual violence. Twelve percent said they were ultimately compelled to do sex work or sell drugs in order to survive. Twenty-one percent said they had experienced homelessness. Forty percent had attempted suicide. Sixty-seven percent experienced rejection by their families.
[T]ransgendered (sic) veterans generally described the health care systems in the Department of Defense and in the Department of Veterans Affairs as hostile and insensitive to their medical and mental health care needs in spite of the fact that they honorably served their country and were entitled to health care benefits.
--Brown and McDuffie (2010)
In order to serve, transgender people have delayed their transitions by a significant number of years, detransitioned in order to serve, or otherwise hid their gender identity.
I have thirty-five years of service though and throughout my career I have been highly regarded. I feel that many others do not have the experience that I have. But I did pay the price for my success . . . I gave up most of my life and lived a lie.
-a veteran
To date I have experienced few instances of discrimination because I have continued to present primarily as my birth gender in order to avoid losing my position in the military. Conversely the sure knowledge that I must do this must qualify as severe discrimination and harassment
--a current service member
Some respondents reported verbal, physical, and sexual harassment in the military because of their gender presentation and/or perceived sexual orientation.
I was once verbally and physically bullied by an Army Colonel because I was a ‘freak,’ even though I served four years in the infantry.
-a transwoman
I was harassed because I was observed with, of all things, shaved arms. The harassment was shunning . . . While on a field exercise, I was silently offered sex contact with my tent mate. I said nothing and did not respond in any way to his overtures. The purpose of this attempt was to obtain the necessary evidence to remove me from military service. It failed.
--a transwoman who was in the Navy Reserve
Sexually harassed in the military for being perceived as gay. Actually was pre-out transsexual. Gender behavior nonconformity with societal norms is why I was perceived to be gay—much in the same way that effeminate males are often perceived to be gay.
-- veteran transwoman
Four respondents reported they were raped and one reported attempted rape while in the military. Four others reported being the targets of sexual violence due to their gender nonconformity.
My US Navy enlistment was short, two years of a six-year enlistment because when my gender feelings were discovered I was twice raped at sea.
I was raped twice in the military because I was butch/lesbian/gender nonconforming. The first time was a gang-rape.
At age sixteen, while in the Marines I was raped in the barracks and when I reported it I was told that I would be dishonorably discharged if I allowed it to become officially reported. No action was taken against the rapist and I was placed back into the barracks with this same person. I went AWOL and remained in that status for twenty-eight years. When I was finally arrested, I lost my high six-figure income job that I had had for twelve years and ended up losing everything and became homeless for about a year. All of this because I was transgender.
Nine percent of respondents reported having been discharged for being gender non-conforming. Several others described situations where they were forced out of the military, but not officially discharged.
Even though I wasn’t forced out of the military ‘officially’ due to my transgender status, because they knew of it and made me seek counseling I knew I had no opportunities to make it a career and left at the first opportunity.
One transman reported having been discharged as mentally unfit to serve as a lesbian under Section 8, rather than being labeled as transgender.
Veterans related the difficulty in updating their records.
“[I was not] able to obtain a new military DD 214 with [my] new name, otherwise [I] cannot use it and prove prior military service, so [I] am denied many services.
On the DEERS [Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System] I am listed by my male name with the gender listed as female. I have a court order stating that effective [January 2008] my male name is __ and my gender is male. Still the military refuses to recognize this. This refusal affects the name on my Army retirement check, disability check, and is causing havoc with my military health care.
Seventy-one percent of responses about the VA were negative. Veterans reported being refused transition-related services such as hormones and being refused to be seen by medical staff. One transwoman reported being raped at a VA hospital.
The most common public policy recommendation offered by respondents was to allow transgender people to serve openly in the military. Others suggested that the VA and military health insurance ought to cover transition related health care. Other suggestions included allowing the change of military records to correct gender, training and education on transgender issues, and passage of ENDA.
I should have the right to risk my life for my country.
Very angry about serving in the first Gulf war, being a 100 percent service-connected disabled vet and having my rights and benefits . . . being denied.
I’m a combat veteran and am discriminated against because I am 'nonconforming.’ I earned the right to be myself.
Served twenty years in the Navy, highly decorated, with honor. [I was] protecting America’s rights. WHAT ABOUT MINE?
The authors provided the following conclusion.
Many transgender people desire to serve their country in the armed forces, yet are not allowed entry or allowed to remain in the service if they wish to live their lives true to their gender identities. Transgender service members and veterans have
reported wide-ranging experiences of discrimination, harassment, and physical and sexual assault while serving in the military. Outside of the military, transgender veterans in the NTDS experienced higher rates of homelessness, incarceration, and family rejection than those who did not serve. Transgender veterans described unique challenges and barriers to obtaining necessary health care and accurate identification documents. The repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” does not provide a public policy solution for these problems transgender service members and veterans experience. Though the VHA has begun to address transgender veterans’ health care concerns, it will be necessary to make additional changes to military policies in order to allow transgender people to serve openly and with honor.