President Trump's proposal to ban transgender Americans from the military may not yet be in place, but it has already garnered reactions of disappointment, outrage, and fear.
Saundra Mitchell, a queer woman who served in the military while the Don't Ask, Don't Tell act was in place says that she fears the wider implications that the ban would have on the lives of transgender military members.
In a now-viral thread on Twitter on Wednesday, Mitchell said that LGBTQ military service members who were reported under DADT, which prohibited LGBTQ people from openly serving, were given a general discharge (not an honorable one) that could deem them "mentally unfit for service."
The stigma of that designation, she tweeted, could stay with someone forever — a signal of the stigma that still shrouds mental health.
separation date. They gave you a general discharge (instead of an honorable one,) usually on a Section 8: "mentally unfit for service." This
— Saundra Mitchell🏳️🌈 (@SaundraMitchell) July 26, 2017
assistance, nothing. And it was on your transcripts forever: GENERAL DISCHARGE, MENTALLY UNFIT FOR SERVICE. Imagine what that does when you
— Saundra Mitchell🏳️🌈 (@SaundraMitchell) July 26, 2017
you were poor and wanted to get the GI Bill, or because you truly, genuinely believed that you were working in service to the American
— Saundra Mitchell🏳️🌈 (@SaundraMitchell) July 26, 2017
at Pride a few years ago, when I saw those out and proud servicepeople marching in the parade. We had come so far, THEY had come so far, and
— Saundra Mitchell🏳️🌈 (@SaundraMitchell) July 26, 2017
because it sets us BACK. We aren't moving forward; we're moving back to shame and censure and erasure from public life and public service.
— Saundra Mitchell🏳️🌈 (@SaundraMitchell) July 26, 2017
DADT was repealed by President Obama in 2011, but Mitchell fears that if transgender individuals discharged from the military under the possible ban are also given the designation of being mentally unfit for service, it could result not only in more discrimination but also the loss of particular benefits.
lose the GI Bill. All will be marked GENERAL DISCHARGE, MENTALLY UNFIT FOR SERVICE. But I hope that they will have the strength to tell the
— Saundra Mitchell🏳️🌈 (@SaundraMitchell) July 26, 2017
would have healed. But I was never going to stop being queer, and somebody asked-- and somebody told. Support your #transServicepeople. What
— Saundra Mitchell🏳️🌈 (@SaundraMitchell) July 26, 2017
comes next could be unimaginable. #LamdaLegal #ACLU #TransRightsAreHumanRights
— Saundra Mitchell🏳️🌈 (@SaundraMitchell) July 26, 2017
Mitchell tells Refinery29 that she had never previously spoken out about her discharge out of shame, choosing to tell people she had been injured. While she had been injured, she said, the subsequent investigation into her security clearance had revealed that she had girlfriends, and "they sanctioned [her] out from there."
"I was ashamed at being sectioned out of the military," she says. "I was sectioned out in 1993, which was a vastly different time for queer people."
"When DADT was repealed, I guess it just never occurred to me to talk about it until yesterday, when it was important," she added. "It had been a secret for so long, and I had been telling the injury story for so long, it was embedded in me."
To be clear, the proposed ban is still very much up in the air, and even if it is implemented, there's no telling what could happen to transgender military members' veterans' rights if they are discharged. But Mitchell's thread highlights just what could be at stake in Trump's call for a ban.
Read these stories next:
Transgender Airman: "I Would Like To See Them Try To Kick Me Out Of My Military"
How A Trans Marine Veteran Feels About Trump's Proposed Military Ban
There Are Roughly 15,500 Trans People In The Military — Trump Wants Them Banned
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