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Future In Limbo For Transgender Veterans In Nevada

"Equality flags" are on display during a Capitol Hill event in Washington, D.C., supporting of transgender members of the military.
Jacquelyn Martin/AP

"Equality flags" are on display during a Capitol Hill event in Washington, D.C., supporting of transgender members of the military.

The Supreme Court’s decision last week to allow the military to ban transgender people from serving came as a shock to Frankie Perez. 

Perez is a UNLV student and he served 10 years in the Air Force, serving two deployments. 

He left the force in good standing with an E6 rank. At one time, he had considered going back.

Now, that’s not an option.

“The initial thing that I thought was now I no longer have that choice to go back in," he said, “When that decision is taken from you, it is a very dehumanizing feeling. It is kind of soul-crushing really.”

Perez came out as transgender after his last deployment to Africa in 2015. 

“I love putting on my uniform," he said, "I have such pride and honor when I put it on. And it was becoming a mask when I was putting on my uniform because I wasn’t out to everyone about who I really am.”

He said the reaction from his unit was generally supportive and the accommodations for his transition were minor.

Perez showered a few minutes before everyone else and had to educate people about his preferred pronouns, which are he-his-him.

He said the most difficult part was educating senior officers and others in his unit about what transgender meant and that he was still showing up to do his job.

“No matter how anybody identifies whether that’s gender, sexual orientation, their religion, where they’re from when you put on that uniform your job is what’s the priority," Perez said.

Now, he is concerned about other young transgender troops that are still serving. He's worried they will be intimidated by senior officers and he hopes they find strength with each other. 

As far as the policy that the Supreme Court upheld, Perez believes it could lead to a larger problem.

“It is discrimination and it could lead to possibly even more discrimination… people may even want to bring back the don’t-ask don’t-tell policy… this can lead to a larger problem than just trans folks serving openly in the military," he said.

Frankie Perez, veteran, U.S. Air Force 

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Prior to taking on the role of Broadcast Operations Manager in January 2021, Rachel was the senior producer of KNPR's State of Nevada program for 6 years. She helped compile newscasts and provided coverage for and about the people of Southern Nevada, as well as major events such as the October 1 shooting on the Las Vegas strip, protests of racial injustice, elections and more. Rachel graduated with a bachelor's degree of journalism and mass communications from New Mexico State University.