While the US Army. UU. It prepares to celebrate the Army legacy with a massive parade in Washington, DC, on Saturday, some members of the transgender service are dealing with an involuntary ending for their careers after the Trump administration expelled them from the military.
“I’m disconsolate,” said CMDR. Emily Shilling, a decorated Navy driver who is also the main plaintiff in Shilling vs. Trump, one of the three federal demands that defy the executive order of the Trump administration, except members of the transgender service.
Shilling, based in the DC area, is also the president of Sparta Pride, an organization that advocates 2,400 transgender people in the army and those who hope to join.
Reflecting on the next parade that commemorates the 250th anniversary of the Army Foundation, Shilling, which has served since 2005, told ABC News that “military power is not equal to patriotism.”
“The members who practice an oath and dedicate their lives to the service, that is patriotism, whether we have tanks or rocket tanks, that has nothing to do with that,” Shilling said.
CMDR. Emily Shilling.
Courtesy of Emily Shilling
And according to Shilling, for the members of Active Service of Sparta, who faced the “heartbreaking” decision of voluntarily separating from the military or being expelled, abandoning their commitment to serve their country is what “keep them awake at night.”
“When I feel in these municipalities that we do with Sparta, people are really struggling with the idea of ​​giving up or quitting, or, you know, not fulfilling their oath,” he said. “And that is actually what keeps these men, women and people you know, at night. They feel they have the duty to continue serving and continue fighting.”
The barricades are established around a Black Hawk helicopter of the US UH-60 army.
Somodevilla/Getty chip
The new Pentagon prohibition entered into force in early May shortly after the Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration could enforce the prohibition of transgender people in the army, while legal challenges proceed in the lower courts.
After the ruling of the Supreme Court, the Pentagon issued a memorandum that gave the members of the active service service until June 6, last Friday, to self -identify and begin the voluntary separation process. The members of the transgender service in the reserve forces have until voluntarily separate.
The memorandum also declared that after June 6, military commanders will be told to identify people in their units that have a diagnosis or history of gender dysphoria or exhibit symptoms consisting of gender dysphoria. The measure would initiate a reference to an annual health check that would begin what could be a long process for each individual that could lead to its elimination of the military.
Shilling, who will be eligible for retirement at the 20th of September, told ABC News that he faced these options, decided to self -identify and begin the process of voluntarily separating from the military, but said he made the decision “under coercion.”
“I arrived at my retirement date in September. Then, if it weren’t voluntary at that time, I could theoretically be expelled between June and September and lose everything,” he said. “So it was a decision taken under coincidence. You know, it coerced me because we knew that voluntary separation would give me an honorable high with some part of my retirement, and I could maintain all my benefits.”
The members of the incentive service of the Pentagon with gender dysphoria will be voluntarily separated before the deadline of June 6 by offering payment packages that would be more than double what would be received if they were involuntarily separated. Those who separated voluntarily would not have to risk paying the recruitment or retention bonds that may have won during their military service.
CMDR. Emily Shilling.
Courtesy of Emily Shilling
Its policy occurred after the Trump administration announced the prohibition of members of the transgender service in an executive order on January 27, where President Donald Trump ordered the Department of Defense to review the policy that allows transgender troops to serve openly.
“Expressing a false ‘gender identity’ divergent from the sex of an individual cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service,” said the order.
The order also argued that receiving medical attention affirmed by gender is one of the conditions that is physically and mentally “incompatible with active service.”
Defense officials estimate that as of last December, around 4,240 current members of active service, the National Guard and the reserve service had been diagnosed with gender dysphoria.
There are more than 2.1 million military service members that serve in active duty, the National Guard and reservations. Defense groups have since the real number of transgender service members is much higher, in around 15,000.
“There is a lot of fear,” Shilling said, reflecting on members of the service like her who are losing their jobs.
CMDR. Emily Shilling.
Courtesy of Emily Shilling
He also said that having been expelled from the military has affected the community, some of which have left “rough houses” and have found a family in the army.
“For many people, this was, you know, the dream they have always wanted, and now his family says that you are not good enough. They are being rejected again by another family,” he said. “And that is quite brutal.”
When asked how he feels about his decision to voluntarily separate from the military, Shilling said he is in “Paz” because he knows that the fight is not over.
“I’m at peace,” he said. “I will prosper, and I will be able to fight this … and continue fighting for that America in which I believe: that good and fair America, and many of these members of the service feel very similar.”
