WASHINGTON — Retired Army Sergeant Kathryn Goldston served for 18 years as a combat medic before leaving the military in September. Goldston came out as a transgender woman in 2017. She said her commander and unit were "extremely supportive," but that it was still hard.
"The thing that made it rough was... just the unknown, because for me and my brothers and sisters in arms, our big thing is we want to continue to serve," Goldston said.
Just six months into his first presidential term, Trump suddenly announced via tweet he was not going to allow transgender people to serve in the military “in any capacity.” By March 2019, as courts ruled against the ban, the Pentagon laid out a policy that allowed those currently serving to continue with plans for hormone treatments and gender transition if they had been diagnosed with gender dysphoria. But it barred new enlistments of anyone with gender dysphoria who was taking hormones or had transitioned to another gender.
"I came out to my command... roughly a few months before President Trump, in his first term, put out his tweets," Goldston explained. "So, I came out, had already started the process of taking taking medication and whatnot for my transition, and it was rough. It was really rough. Thankfully, there was support and everything through some of our peer groups, and it really helped me out."
Soon after President Joe Biden took office in 2021, he overturned Trump’s ban and the Pentagon also announced it would cover transition medical expenses for troops.
Now, a new policy by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, once again bans transgender individuals from joining the military, and prohibits the military from providing gender-transition services. In a post online, the U.S. Army goes on to say, “Individuals with gender dysphoria” who are already serving “will be treated with dignity and respect.” This follows President Trump signing an executive order that says people “expressing a false gender identity divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service."
Goldston said she started her transition when she was in the Wisconsin National Guard, which she joined 13 years ago after deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. She disagrees that her treatments made her unable to meet military standards.
I even took extra orders at the time when I had gotten surgery, and I was literally teaching medics doing everything that all of the other medic instructors were doing“I literally went through, started my medication, went to the field, did all of my duties that I was supposed to do,” she said. “I even took extra orders at the time when I had gotten surgery, and I was literally teaching medics doing everything that all of the other medic instructors were doing, just 15 days to one month after surgery. So, I was literally missing nothing, and none of that was paid for on taxpayer dollars; that was all out of pocket.”
As many as 12,000 of the more than two million U.S. service members are believed to be transgender. Goldston said trans service members just want the same rights as everyone else.
“We want to be able to go into work, to exceed in our profession, and to serve our country,” she said.
Goldston now attends Evergreen State College in Washington State, studying graphic design. While in Wisconsin, she completed a degree in web and software development and said now she's upgrading it from an associate's to a bachelor's degree. She has a leadership position in SPARTA Pride, a group of active and retired transgender service members.
“Reach out if you need support,” she said. “It might be rough, but we will get through this.”
In banning transgender individuals from enlisting, Hegseth said “efforts to split our troops along lines of identity weaken our force and make us vulnerable.” The new policy is now being challenged in court.
