How 3 Transgender Service Members Are Coping With Trump's Military Ban

By Ryan Roschke

From left to right: Air Force Sergeant Logan Ireland, Army veteran Laila Ireland, Former Navy Lt. Commander Brynn Tannehill, GLAAD president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis, US Army Captain Jennifer Peace, Navy Corpsman Petty Officer (Third Class) Akira Wyatt, and Air Force Airman (First Class) Sterling James Crutcher.

Air Force Airman Sterling James Crutcher admits it "hasn't been easy" for transgender military members like him to cope with Donald Trump's decision to ban them from service.

On Sunday night, Crutcher was one of six incredible transgender members of the military who proudly attended the MTV VMAs in LA, where we had a chance to speak before the show. The monumental occasion came on the heels of Trump turning his tweets into policy with an official memo demanding the ban be implemented sometime in the next six months.

Crutcher was directly referencing the sudden decision (and the aftermath) that came from President Trump, but his words speak to the transgender experience — throughout history and in 2017. After all, adversity is nothing new in the transgender community. Transgender women are still being murdered at alarming rates. Parents are forced to sue school districts that won't honor their child's gender identity. This kind of prejudice carries over to the US armed forces. And while Trump announced his ban in July, it wasn't even until June 2016 that President Barack Obama officially allowed transgender military members to serve openly under their correct gender identity at all.

In direct response to the decision, MTV extended an invitation to active transgender service members and transgender veterans. I spoke with three of the individuals who made an appearance: along with Crutcher, I met Air Force Sergeant Logan Ireland, 29, and Army veteran Laila Ireland, 31. The latter two got married in a lovely Hawaiian wedding ceremony in May 2016.

Leila Ireland explained why the VMAs were the perfect platform to raise awareness about transgender individuals in the military. "The VMAs have historically been a platform for social issues," she said. "We're very fortunate, humbled, and excited about this experience and to be able to share our stories. And that's what we came here to do."

We're here to serve our country, and we're going to do so until we're told otherwise.

It's hard not to view Trump's latest move as a deliberate attack on LGBTQ+ civil rights. But according to Crutcher and the Irelands, the decision has only reinvigorated their urge to serve. "At the end of the day, we all signed up to do a job, and we took an oath to protect the Constitution and protect the people of the United States," said Crutcher. "Honestly, that's what we're here to do, and that's what we're going to do until we're told that we can't."

Logan Ireland jumped in to echo the sentiment that their service surpasses the policy of any one administration. "We're here to serve our country, and we're going to do so until we're told otherwise. That's why I enlisted, and that's why many people join the military: to serve our country."

The question many of us are likely asking is how transgender allies can help. What can we do for our brothers and sisters? "You can listen to us," Leila Ireland said. "Listen up. When we talk, listen. But you can also go to TransMilitary.org and SpartaPride.org. Also, our friends and allies at GLAAD have much more resources for people to take a look at to see how they can help us."

Before I had to let the members go, I asked if they wanted to share one message from the massive platform at the VMAs. "Support your transgender military community," Logan Ireland said. "And keep on marching forward." But perhaps it was Crutcher's final words that really stuck: "Never surrender. Never give up. This is how you change things. This is how you progress."