Transgender troops tell Congress they excel in military

Capt. Alivia Stehlik testifies alongside other transgender military members Wednesday before a House subcommittee. Capt. Alivia Stehlik testifies alongside other transgender military members Wednesday before a House subcommittee. Photo: Manuel Balce Ceneta / Associated Press Photo: Manuel Balce Ceneta / Associated Press Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Transgender troops tell Congress they excel in military 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

SAN DIEGO — Transgender troops testifying for the first time to Congress this week said transitioning to another sex made them stronger, while Pentagon officials defended the Trump administration’s desire to bar people like them from enlisting in the future.

Army Capt. Alivia Stehlik, an infantry officer and graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and Ranger School, told lawmakers she became a more “effective soldier” after she transitioned from male to female in 2017.

“What is the value of having transgender people in the military? Based on my experience first as a combat arms officer and medical provider, the answer is unequivocally that my transition — and so many others — has dramatically increased the readiness and lethality of every branch of the armed forces,” said Stehlik, who returned from a deployment to Afghanistan a month ago where she treated soldiers as a physical therapist.

With the ban now blocked by lawsuits, active-duty transgender service members were invited to testify at the hearing called by Rep. Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo, chairwoman of the military personnel subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee.

Speier said the ban is “discriminatory, unconstitutional and self-defeating” and said the Obama administration’s 2016 lifting of the barrier to allow transgender people to serve has been an “unequivocal success.”

She added that barring transgender people again “would cost us recruits at a time when so few Americans are willing to serve.” She called the five transgender troops who testified Wednesday “exceptional, but also exceptionally normal.”

Retired Air Force Gen. James Stewart, who is now performing the duties of the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, defended the Trump administration’s policy, which is currently blocked by litigation.

He said current transgender troops will be allowed to continue to serve and other transgender people can join the military if they serve in their biological sex and have not been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, a condition under which people experience distress if they do not identify with their birth gender.

“It’s not a ban on transgender individuals,” he insisted.

Stewart added that “special accommodations” cannot be made for people with such a medical condition.

Maryland Democratic Rep. Anthony Brown said the same argument was used to keep blacks from integrating into the Army in 1948 and again in the 1990s to keep gay people from serving openly under the don’t ask, don’t tell policy, which was repealed by Congress in 2010.

He said barring people who have undergone treatment for gender dysphoria and transitioned to another sex is equivalent to banning transgender people.

Julie Watson is an Associated Press writer.