[Stewart Meadows]

What it’s like to be a transgender Jew in the military now


(JTA) — For a few years now, Havi Fisher has been taking college courses in his free time and studying to prepare himself for medical school. The 27-year-old hopes to either attend medical school as part of a program offered by the U.S. Navy, in which he’s currently serving, or at a school on his own.

Now it looks like one of those doors has closed.

That’s because Fisher, who enlisted four years ago and serves as a hospital corpsman on a ship stationed outside San Diego, is transgender.

In July 2017, President Donald Trump announced via Twitter that he was banning transgender people from serving in the military. He cited “tremendous medical costs and disruption” as the reasons for the move, which drew criticism from LGBTQ activists, civil rights organizations and some former military leaders.

The ban was put on hold amid challenges in courts across the country, but last week the U.S. Supreme Court allowed it to go into effect while the cases are being tried. So most transgender people are now excluded from serving in the military, though exceptions include service members who started their transition before the policy was announced.
(...)
Fisher, who recently signed on to help organize services and activities for Jews serving aboard his ship, says he has found solace in Judaism.

“A lot of my principles and who I am as a person and how I approach the world, it comes from being Jewish,” he said, “so a lot of how I even just at a fundamental level process dealing with the hard things in life in that way, it has been part of who I am and how I’ve been able to handle that.”
(...)
For another Jewish service member, who asked not to have his name used in this article to protect his privacy, joining the military meant putting himself back in the closet.

https://www.jta.org/2019/02/01/unite...e-military-now

Havi Fisher: