The local LGBTQIA+ community is speaking out after President Joe Biden signed an executive order making it easier for transgender individuals to serve the country. 

What You Need To Know

  • Transgender now people have an easier path to serving the country

  • President Biden signed an executive order this week reversing a Trump-era Pentagon policy that largely barred transgender individuals from serving in the military

  • Local community advocates support the move

"During my time, it was still "don't ask, don't tell," so I knew a few LGBT people when I was in, and they couldn't say nothing about themselves to anybody, which you could see it was stressful to them, which shouldn't have been," said Diana Patton, a veteran.

Patton served in the Navy in the 1990s. At the time, she didn't know much about what it meant to be transgender. But years after she was discharged, she realized she was trans. 

"If you're able to do your job, you should be able to do your job. It shouldn't matter what your outer shell looks like," she said. 

On Monday, President Biden signed an executive order reversing a Trump-era Pentagon policy that largely barred transgender individuals from serving in the military. 

The order says it's the policy of the United States to ensure that all transgender individuals who wish to serve in the United States military and can meet the appropriate standards shall be able to do so openly and free from discrimination.

"I know many of my fellow veterans are perfectly okay with trans people serving. You rely your entire life, I mean being able to breathe, on the person next to you. You have to trust that that person can do their job. You don't care what that person looks like, you don't care what that person's religious beliefs are, or anything else. All you care about is that person can do their job," said Patton.

Bryan Ball, the president of the Stonewall Democrats of Western New York, believes the Trump administration tried to roll back civil rights for the LGBTQIA+ community while the new administration appears ready to defend those rights. 

"Allowing all of our transgender heroes who serve in our military to continue to serve, to be able to serve openly, that's something we absolutely applaud and should absolutely have happened," said Ball.

Even though it's only a week into the new presidency, Ball is optimistic about what's to come.

"We're hoping to see the first openly LGBTQ cabinet official confirmed by the Senate in Pete Buttigieg in the treasury department. Things like that are absolutely huge milestones for the LGBTQ community," he said.