Julie Levinson
Under exactly no circumstances does my child have any intention or desire to join the military. In fact, up until today, the good people of the military wouldn’t have taken her for a whole slew of reasons:
- She is not particularly good at following orders.
- You’ve never met a bigger slob.
- Upon merely hearing of the rigors of basic training, I am confident she would run (well, walk fast) for the hills.
- She would be horrified by the dress code.
- It’s totally not her thing.
Now, however, none of those things would be what precluded her from serving and protecting our country. Rather, the leader of the free f#&king world has banned her from service. In fact, even if she was the most kick-ass military type person (because that is all she is…a person) on the freakin’ planet, they would deny her the opportunity to serve and protect all of us, just because she happens to be a female with male parts.
Last I checked, the manner in which someone dresses, walks, talks and pees is no one else’s damn business, will have exactly no bearing on their ability to fulfill the obligations of their branch of the military and, oh yeah, is no reason to ban them from anything ever.
Let’s think about this, shall we?
Who is braver than the person who, knowing full well how difficult it will be, has the courage to transition in any direction away from the gender on their birth certificate?
Who is stronger than the kid who walks, head held high, into school on a random Wednesday wearing clothes one would expect of the opposite gender?
Who is tougher than the person who, despite having a strong circle of protective, kind and loving friends and family, is subjected to pointing, whispering and chatter every.damn.day just for being themselves?
Who would you rather have on your side: the person strong enough to make the leap or the asshole person who cares one whit about someone else’s walk, talk and how.they.pee?
These are people willing and more than able to protect YOU.
They are someone’s child.
They are people you know.
They are no different from you or me.
They are as capable (probably more), strong (definitely more) and accepting (way, way more) than any one who has not walked in their shoes.
They are people I would like to know are on my side, keeping me safe, protecting me from evil.
So instead of not giving a s#&t how someone else defines their gender, the truly evil, misinformed and way too powerful have flexed their flaccid muscles, shown their fear and created a divide in our country that I fear no military can repair.