Rhys Harper

Update: Military Spouse of the Year 2017 has chosen its top 18 nominees, and while Laila Ireland is not among them, she is the first openly transgender person to have been nominated for this award.

Army veteran Laila Ireland has made it through the first round of Military Spouse Magazine's annual Military Spouse of the Year competition. If she wins, she'll become an even brighter beacon for trans members of the U.S. military.



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A 13-year Army combat medic when she retired in 2015, Laila is married to Staff Sergeant Logan Ireland, who is himself trans, and the couple is stationed at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs.

Rhys Harper

Laila and Logan are not new to the spotlight: They were the subject of a 2015 New York Times op-doc video that chronicled their relationship and their experiences of serving in the military while trans. (At that point, the Pentagon had not yet lifted the ban on trans people serving openly.) Now, Laila is a champion for trans military members in her role as membership director of SPART*A, which advocates for the rights, careers, and well-being of LGBT service members. "I want to bring awareness and to help educate other families" on the value of diversity and inclusion, she told Military Spouse. "My journey and my work here is far from over."



Photos courtesy of Rhys Harper Studios.

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Hayley MacMillen Hayley MacMillen covers sex, relationships, and health.

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