Meet Shane, The Army’s First Openly Trans Soldier, and a big player in repealing the ban.On th

Meet Shane, The Army’s First Openly Trans Soldier, and a big player in repealing the ban.On the surface, Sergeant Shane Ortega, 28, doesn’t stand out or appear out of the ordinary among his fellow Army soldiers. He works out constantly (he even competes in bodybuilding competitions he’s obsessed with his girlfriend (a former model and aspiring doctor and he gets giddy talking about both video games and chopping wood in Alaska. He’s covered in tattoos, wears tank tops that show off his physique and has light green eyes that pop in contrast to his dark skin (he’s part black, Latino and Cherokee).Ortega, who now serves as a Chinook helicopter crew chief with the 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii, meets all the Army’s physical fitness standards, gets positive reviews from his chain of command, and always strives to put the mission first, regardless of what he’s facing in his private life.Despite his solid performance and commitment to serve, SGT Ortega has been at risk of getting kicked out of the Army because in official Army paperwork, he is identified as a woman.Ortega, who was assigned female at birth, is one of the military’s few openly trans service members. While roughly 15,500 transgender people are estimated to be currently serving in the military, almost all of them are forced to do so in secret since the Department of Defense’s current policy forbids openly transgender individuals from serving.The Army’s Standards of Medical Fitness states that transsexualism, gender identity, and transvestism are among several “personality or psychosexual conditions,” including voyeurism and paraphilias, that “render an individual administratively unfit.” But, that is changing soon.” Read the full piece hereGO SHANE!!!THIS WEEK: Pentagon expected to announce plan to lift the military’s transgender service ban -- source link

More pics about