WASHINGTON (WSAV) – The battle over the president’s ban on transgender service members has hit Capitol Hill.
This has a direct impact on those like Mia Mason, who served five tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, but says she is fighting to be fully recognized as a woman.
“It’s almost a nightmare again,” Mason says.
Mason began serving in the armed forces as a man and transitioned to living as a woman in 2010.
Her tour of duty is up now, and she wants to relist.
“We still need to be able to stop the ban fully so that we can actually have a full fighting force with diversity,” says Mason.
The Department of Defense says Mason, and those like her will be allowed to stay in the military for now, while the Pentagon decides how to carry out the president’s order to rid the military of transgender men and women.
A bipartisan group of senators are fighting the president’s ban and are proposing an amendment as part of the Senate’s defense bill.
It would require the Defense Department to complete its study of transgender recruits and issue its report before any ban is put into place.
On Friday, several Republicans signed onto the amendment, including Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain.
Missouri Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill says she is against the president’s ban and supports the proposed amendment, but Republican Senator Roy Blunt says he is waiting to hear from military leaders before making a decision.
