‘We exist’: LGBTQ+ center hosts event for transgender service members removed from military
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — Veteran and LGBTQ+ advocates held a workshop on Monday to support transgender veterans who are being forced out of service by the Trump administration.
The workshop, in partnership with the California Department of Veterans Affairs, was hosted at the San Diego LGBT Community Center. The workshop was inclusive for all veterans, featuring legal sources, panels and housing resources for those in attendance.
The Department of Defense is enforcing the Trump administration’s ban on transgender people in the military, giving orders for troops to self-identify or have their medical records reviewed, according to the Associated Press.
Transgender veteran advocate and Co-Chair of LGBT Veterans Wall of Honor Veronica Zerrer said people will “be learning to survive, first and foremost.”
More recently, the Air Force announced military separation boards cannot independently review removal cases for transgender soldiers and instead must “recommend separation of the member,” according to a military memo. At least 1,000 transgender service members were removed from their positions in May, according to AP.
“We are here to have a transition assistance project workshop for transgender service members, that are being kicked out of the military,” Veronica said.
Other speakers who attended the center’s panel included Undersecretary Keith Boylan of the California Department of Veterans Affairs, Director of Behavioral Health Services at The San Diego LGBT Community Center Pamuela Halliwell and Mayor of San Diego Todd Gloria.
Following the event, Gloria shared that leaders gathered “to make one thing clear: San Diego and California stand with our transgender servicemembers and veterans. You served our nation with honor,” Gloria posted on social media. “We will honor you with dignity, support, and respect – no matter what.”
Veronica added that events like this are important because they are ways of “resisting the hatred that is coming out of the current administration towards transgender service members.”
She shared she wants viewers to know the constitution is “not meant to project the majority so much as it is the minority,” and that “LQBTQ people exist, we exist.”
