Post submitted by Brian McBride, former HRC Digital Strategist 

A transgender woman who served in the military for more than three decades in silence is now speaking out against President Trump’s pick to lead the very department she served in.

In a powerful oped for The Washington Post, retired Army Col. Sheri Swokowski lays bare the impact the extreme anti-LGBTQ views of Mark Green - Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. Army - could have on LGBTQ service members, who risk their lives everyday to protect our country.

“Leading the Army requires an appreciation for every individual, without exception, and Green wouldn’t have the confidence of the thousands of LGBT soldiers proudly and openly serving today,” Swokowski writes in her oped. “Every soldier needs to know that those at the top, uniformed and civilian, have their back. But based on the way he has used anti-LGBT politics to advance his career, that’s not him.”

Green has an expansive history of sponsoring anti-LGBTQ bills and spewing hateful rhetoric as a Tennessee legislator. He’s called being transgender a “disease” and, just yesterday, The Huffington Post reported Green said his transphobia will help him “crush evil”.

It’s those types of comments Swokowski says only further demonstrate the president and his administration’s “true colors” towards the LGBTQ community. She added that if the senate votes to confirm his nomination, they would be just as culpable in approving bigotry and hate at one of the military’s top posts.   

Swokowski ends her message with a direct message to Green:

“Oh, and Sen. Green, I’m not diseased.”