On this week’s 51%, we focus on women in service. WAMC’s Ashley Hupfl takes us to a ceremony for living veterans in Albany, New York. Karen Dewitt reports on a program for veterans with PTSD that’s seeking full funding in the New York state budget. And we speak with Lt. Col. Bree Fram and Army veteran Mael Embser-Herbert about their new book, With Honor and Integrity: Transgender Troops in Their Own Words.

Guests: Bree Fram, lieutenant colonel with the U.S. Space Force; Mael Embser-Herbert, U.S. Army veteran and professor at Hamline University

51% is a national production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. Our producer is Jesse King, our executive producer is Dr. Alan Chartock, and our theme is “Lolita” by the Albany-based artist Girl Blue.

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You’re listening to 51%, a WAMC production dedicated to women’s issues and experiences. Thanks for joining us, I’m Jesse King. November 11 is Veterans Day, and thanks to the COVID-19 vaccine, many communities were able to resume their ceremonies and festivities for the first time since the start of the pandemic. Here in Albany, the Veterans Day parade was back in full force as it made it way down Central Avenue. So today we’ve got a trio of stories and interviews centered around women in the military, and the range of issues veterans of all genders face.

In New York, Governor Kathy Hochul recently signed a package of bills meant to support veterans and their families — but a bipartisan group of lawmakers are still hoping the governor will commit to full funding for a program that helps veterans coping with PTSD. Capitol Correspondent Karen Dewitt reports.

You can find Karen Dewitt's story here.

Our next guests are the editors of a new book with New York University Press, titled With Honor and Integrity: Transgender Troops in Their Own Words. When the U.S. repealed its “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy on gay members of the military in 2011, it notably left out members of the transgender community. Now, there are varying numbers on just how many transgender service members there are in the U.S. — a 2014 study by the Williams Institute at UCLA put the number over 15,000, a 2016 workplace survey cited by the Department of Defense reported 9,000, and a 2018 analysis by the Palm Center once again raised it to about 14,700. But that’s at least partially because the military’s stance on transgender service members has been in flux over the past several years. 

In 2016, then-President Barack Obama’s Secretary of Defense, Ashton Carter, announced a new policy allowing transgender people to serve openly and obtain access to gender-affirming medical and psychological care — but just over a year later, then-President Donald Trump moved to reverse that in a series of tweets, stating: “The United States government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military.” This was reversed again by President Joe Biden earlier this year — so for now, transgender people can enlist, serve openly, and get the care that they need. But like everything, their status has been caught in politics. 

Bree Fram is a lieutenant colonel openly serving as a transgender woman in the Space Force, making her the highest-ranking transgender officer in the U.S. military. She’s also the president of SPARTA, an advocacy group dedicated to transgender service members, and before her role at the Space Force she served with the Air Force in Iraq. Embser-Herbert is a veteran of the Army and a sociology professor at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota. They’re the author of books like The U.S. Military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Policy: A Reference Handbook, and have long focused on issues involving gender and sexuality in the military. 

What made you want to make this book?

Embser-Herbert: In October 2017, I had the opportunity to go to a little film festival here in the Twin Cities. And one of the