The Pentagon Recognizes Transgender Veterans

The Pentagon are recognizing Transgender vets. This is huge and a big step for equality I think, but we have a long way to go.

Buzzfeed has the scoop:

In a short letter dated May 2, a Navy official told Autumn Sandeen, a veteran and transgender activist: “Per your request the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS) has been updated to show your gender as female effective April 12, 2013.”

Sandeen’s military identification card now reflects the change, a move called “quite significant” by the head of OutServe-SLDN, a national organization for LGBT service members and veterans and their families.

“The fact that a process exists [to change the gender listed] indicates that there are people in the Department of Defense who are aware of the needs of transgender retirees and who are working to see those needs met. And, in that sense, the significance of this symbolic act for our broader work and for our goal of open service becomes I think a little bit more apparent,” OutServe-SLDN executive director Allyson Robinson told BuzzFeed.

Again, a huge step in the right direction.

No Need to Panic about Obama's Health Care Proposal

So, there are a few folks up in arms about how Obama left out LGBT provisions in Health Care Bill.

But if these folks actually read closely, they will learn something different.

I will try to provide some perspective.

• The bill is NOT a bill. This is a proposal, so this is not set in stone.

• The proposal calls for $11 billion for ''the operation, expansion, and construction of community health centers", this can cover AIDS/HIV education, testing and follow-up.

• Rep. Tammy Baldwin has been working of the LGBT provisions. She is still working with Obama on those provisions. So they are not abandon as some may think.

• This proposal is not solely Obama's, this mostly comes from the Senate earlier bill proposal.

''The President's proposal assumes the base Senate bill,'' said Shin Inouye, a spokesman for the White House with LGBT media. But Inouye pointed out that the president's proposal does include ''data collection.''

• "Data Collection" is still included. This means that the collection of data about ''sexual orientation'' and ''gender identity'' could help match health issues and the need for programs for the people involved.

We are not abandoned, in fact, they are still working on several issues besetting the future bill. But what really bothers me is how some folks jumped the gun.

On Twitter, gay folks were passing tweets like, "Obama cheats us again on HCR". When I asked them to elaborate, their responses were, that he betrayed us or I got it from Pam's blog.

So, I read Autumn Sandeen's post: Our "Fierce Advocate" Not Being Fierce Again. She only included a part of the info and nothing about this being a draft, what's actually in the proposal or how this is a work in progress.

I'm really seeing the malarkey here. If you're going to talk about it, then talk about it. Please don't use Fox News-styled tactics to prove a point that nonexistent. There's no reason to blame Obama or to stir up salt and water and call it soup.

And more thing, we should look deeper into any matter involving LGBT right. Seeing how folks just passed this tweet on, without fully reading it or understanding it is unacceptable. We can not let our frustrations lead us into ignorance. We have to challenge each other as much as we challenge the Obama Administration.

I'm not trying to be preachy, but I'm tired of some of our LGBT fam falling for this panic mode of thinking. Hell, we are acting like teabaggers! Let's not go there.

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