In his first month in office, President Joe Biden issued an executive order stating that "All Americans who are qualified to serve in the Armed Forces of the United States should be able to serve."
His decision reversed the order of President Trump who banned all transgender individuals from military service.
Trans personnel have been through a series of ups and downs in their struggle to serve as their authentic selves.
From being totally banned throughout U.S. military history to acceptance under the Obama administration in 2016 to Trump's tweets a year later reversing that policy and now with no barriers to serving, the transgender community has been through highs and lows.
Lt. Col. Bree Fram of the U.S. Space Force says that after all that ". . . to get back to this point where again transgender people can reach their full potential in the service and be their best selves which enables them to be their best self at the mission was really important here in 2021."
For Army veteran and sociologist Máel Embser-Herbert, the quick change from being able to openly serve to being banned left them wondering. "I just couldn't imagine what it was that people were doing. How were you navigating this terrain of uncertainty, not knowing if your career was just going to be completely done and so, that set me up to want to know more."
Embser-Herbert's questions are just some of what is addressed in a book they edited with Lt. Col. Bree, "Honor and Integrity: Transgender Troops in their Own Words." The 26 essays within were written by current service members and veterans.
Revealed in several of the essays is that for some transgender persons the military was a refuge from families that did not understand them.
That can be compounded by living in small towns and for the transgender who join the military "it's an opportunity to kind of remake themselves," observes Embser-Herbert.
Having served in the Army and the reserves from the late 70s through 2000, Embser-Herbert thinks the military actually is a place for social experiments.
"You're dealing with a bureaucracy, with a chain of command, with people who are surrounded by folks different from themselves," concluding that transgender soldiers can "have, if not a positive response, at least a neutral one."
The stories told in "Honor and Integrity" range from the painful to the joyous to the humorous. As Fram points out the essays "span the scope of transgender experiences in the military, show there's no one way to be trans in the military."
- Máel Embser-Herbert, Army veteran, sociology professor at Hamline University
- Lt. Col. Bree Fram, U.S. Space Force and president of SPARTA
