The reaction of former Navy SEAL Team 6 member Kristin Beck to Donald Trump’s ban on transgender people serving in the military, could not have been simpler: “Let’s meet face to face and you tell me I’m not worthy.”
The 20-year military veteran, who became the first US Navy SEAL to come out as transgender in 2013, said a person’s gender identity made no difference to their ability to do the job.
“Being transgender doesn’t affect anyone else,” she told Business Insider. “We are liberty’s light. If you can’t defend that for everyone that’s an American citizen, that’s not right.”
Ms Beck, 51, said the President’s abrupt change in policy could negatively affect many currently or wanting to serve in the military. A Rand Corporation study estimated there were between 1,320 to 6,630 transgender people currently serving.
Ms Beck, who left the Navy in 2011, published a memoir in June 2013 entitled Warrior Princess: A US Navy SEAL’s journey to coming out transgender.
“I was defending individual liberty,” she said. “I defended for Republicans, I defended for Democrats. I defended for everyone.”
