'In No Way Incompatible': Service Academy Alums Sign Letter Supporting Transgender Cadets, Midshipmen
... Alumni representing every academy and a broad spectrum of generations have signed onto an open letter aimed at providing transgender and other gender-nonconforming students with encouragement as the administration disparages transgender service members, according to a copy of the letter shared with Military.com ahead of its wider release....
"These changes have occurred despite my successful academic and military performance at the U.S. Air Force Academy over the past four years, creating significant disruption and uncertainty at what should be the culmination of my education and the beginning of my military career," Marquez wrote in the statement. "My command has assured me that, from their perspective, my being transgender has had no negative impact on my ability to meet academy standards."
... "Unfortunately, because there are so few trans and non-binary cadets and Midshipmen, there's a lot of fear right now at the moment about speaking up," the (letter) organizer said. "We thought, in terms of what we could do, was just spread this message of support on behalf of alumni with something really having this personal lived experience that could speak to: 'We know what this takes. We've all been there. We've gone through this. And there's really nothing about you that is incompatible with this.'"
... Signatories on the letter include alumni from all five service academies. The oldest alums on the letter are from the class of 1968, and the youngest graduated just last year....
Emily Elledge, who graduated from the Naval Academy in 2012, said she signed the letter so that cadets and Midshipmen who "may feel right now as if they are under attack by the administration ... know that there are people who have also served this country who support them."
Having been at the academy when "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was repealed, Elledge said she has seen firsthand the difference that being able to live authentically makes for Midshipmen. "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was the policy that banned gay, lesbian and bisexual troops from serving openly and was repealed in 2011.
"They don't have to constantly be worrying about someone finding out something that's extremely important to them as a person, and I think that that allows people to then fulfill the mission better," Elledge told Military.com in a phone interview. "And then them living authentically didn't detract from anyone else's personal experience."
Another signatory on the letter, Jennifer Bower from the Air Force Academy Class of 2006, said she was shocked by the "hurtful" language in Trump's executive order and hopes that cadets and Midshipmen feel heartened by the support from alumni.
"For them to receive that recognition and support from people who know exactly what they are going through, from the perspective of what it takes to succeed at a service academy and to survive it, I know that that would have been very meaningful to me as a cadet," Bower said in a phone interview....
RW bigots sure are delicate pansies. Awww.
Child Targeting: Libraries hosting drag shows for toddlers, schools replacing math with 57+ gender ideologies, and corporations selling Pride-themed cereal/toys to normalize the unthinkable.
Obsessed.
