7 wonderful quotes about depression from the great Robin Williams

When Executive Order 14183 was signed into existence this past January, it banned any military personnel who identified as transgender from service. Though it was initially blocked a few months later, on May 6 the Supreme Court ruled that the ban could continue. As the Military Times shared on May 15, “The Defense Department will begin screening troops for gender dysphoria during their routine physicals in an effort to boot transgender service members from the armed forces.” But it appears Democrats in the House of Representatives are now attempting to reverse the ban once more. The new proposed ruling, as Military Times shared in another article, “would bar the defense secretary from separating any member of the armed forces on the basis of gender identity, including a diagnosis or potential diagnosis of gender dysphoria.’” It would also approve health care for transgender individuals in the military.

There are approximately 4200 transgender individuals currently in the military who want an opportunity to serve their country and have been “serving honorably in the military and have been doing so for years,” according to Advocates for Trans Equality (A4TE). Several thousand more are veterans with families. Amidst the turmoil in the government, countless transgender military personnel have continued to speak out, many of them decorated and high-ranking.