10 ways transgender service members led the fight for equality in 2016

1) January through May

Having attended an initial meeting in 2015, soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines from the advocacy group, SPARTA, attended several top-secret appointments with top brass inside the Pentagon. Each time they donned their uniform according to their gender identity and shared their personal story of being transgender with military leaders, despite the policies in place banning their service. They fielded at times pointed and intrusive questions, but their candor helped shape opinion and change attitudes of senior military leadership.

2) Friday, June 24

For the fifth time, troops from SPARTA answered the call to meet inside the Pentagon, this time with the Secretary of Defense, Ash Carter, himself.

3) Thursday, June 30

The Secretary of Defense ends the ban a transgender service members. Back in 2012 advocates were estimating it would take 20 years to accomplish, but this year while States such as North Carolina are institutionalizing discrimination, America’s largest employer of transgender people, the U.S. military, is including trans people within their ranks.

4) Wednesday, July 20

First known transgender Drill Sergeant, Ken Ochoa, comes out and shares his fears of having to wear the female head gear. As policy change directives had not been issued and Ochoa was still administered under female standards, the unique female drill sergeant hat was his designated uniform. However, the day after his story came out military leadership calls Ochoa with the news that he will in fact be processed as male and will get his “Exception To Policy” approved, allowing him to abide by male standards. In describing the call Ochoa says, “The bottom line was ‘we support you and we’re not going to put you in front of troops without being able to be true to who you are.’”

5) Thursday, July 21

Last year Logan Ireland and his then fiancée, Laila Villanueva, brought the issue of the ban on transgender service members into the military and media spot-light by coming out in the New York Times short documentary, Transgender, at War and in Love. In 2016 their story was nominated for Outstanding Short Documentary in the 37th Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards. “The stories of transgender Americans serving in the military – told in this film with sensitivity and love instead of visual stereotypes – have the potential to change hearts and minds,” said Army veteran and SPARTA President Emeritus Sue Fulton.

6) Tuesday, August 16

Many in the LGBTQ community celebrated when the U.S. Navy made history by naming a new Military Sealift Command ship after Harvey Milk, but another historic first happened that day when Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus selected transgender Navy veteran Paula Neira as a sponsor of the ship. “Secretary Mabus’ decision to name a ship after Harvey Milk, as well as select transgender Navy veteran Paula Neira as one of its sponsors, speaks volumes about his inspiring commitment to strengthen our military and its future — a future where all service members are respected and supported for the selfless sacrifices they make each and every day,” said HRC spokesperson Stephen Peters, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and spouse of an active duty Marine.

7) Wednesday, September 7

Navy veteran Paula Neira was one of two openly transgender veterans included in the audience of NBC News and the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America first-ever “Commander-in-Chief Forum.” Joining Neira was retired Army officer and President of the Transgender Veterans Association (TAVA), Major Evan Young. While the event itself was historic, having transgender veterans included in the exclusive audience was a win.

8) Friday, September 9

Navy Lt. Cdr. Blake Dremann became the first known openly transgender service member promoted since the end of the trans service ban. To top it off, everyone on his promotion stage was transgender. At his invitation, Dremann was promoted by Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Operational Energy Amanda Simpson, who in 2010 became the first transgender woman appointee ever in the U.S. government, and today is the highest ranking transgender person in the Department of Defense as well as the federal government. “I suppose I should start by addressing the significance of today’s ceremony,” Simpson said in opening. “To my knowledge this is the first U.S. military promotion ceremony for an openly transgender officer.”

9) Sunday, October 2

New York Magazine issues a beautiful legacy spread on the historic events that have happened during the eight years of Obama’s presidency. They include a portrait of Capt. Jennifer Peace by celebrated photographer, Dan Winters. According to the publication’s editors, “it’s fairly accurate to say Captain Peace was the first known transgender service member to be featured in the magazine.”