1. About

2. Board of Directors

3. History
     First Congregation    Importance of event    Keynote Speaker Brynn Tannehill    Secretary Carter signals support for transgender service    Transgender, at War and in Love    At the White House    Raise of discharge level raised to the secretary level    SPART*A wins Vetty    SPART*A members meet with Pentagon in Historic Meeting    End of ban    SPART*A Future Warriors    Announcement of new president    First Openly Transgender Service Member Promoted    Gender markers begin changing    First out transgender recruit    Reinstatement of ban    Transgender service member gets first gender reassignment surgery    Currently  

4. Creation of SPART*A
     Fallout from OutServe-SLDN  

SPART*A, Inc., founded in 2013, is a non-profit organization made up of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals who currently serve or have served in the U.S. Armed Forces and their families. SPART*A is the largest organization of U.S. actively-serving transgender military members. SPART*A's is most notable for helping to outline the Department of Defense's guidelines for transgender service members.

SPART*A’s membership currently includes over 600 transgender Americans actively serving in the U.S. Armed Forces. The name SPART*A originated as an acronym for “Service members, Partners, and Allies for Respect and Tolerance for All". SPART*A provides their members with a peer support network, assistance in navigating military transgender policy and health care, and educational resources for their professional development.

About

SPART*A is a nonpartisan, inclusive, member-based organization that is committed to ensuring the right of all U.S. LGBT service members, veterans and that their families are protected. They are committed to equal opportunity for all service members regardless of race, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity and expression. They educate key stakeholders and the public about issues that impact LGBT service members, veterans and their families to continue to accomplish their mission of strengthening the culture of inclusion and diversity within the United States military.

Board of Directors

SPART*A was effectively established on July 22, 2013, with 11 Board members made up of both LGBT veterans and actively-serving military members. These initial members include Carl Able (U.S. Marine Corps), Karl Alvarez (U.S. Air Force veteran), Jase Daniels (U.S. Navy), Tanya Domi (U.S. Army veteran), Tania Dunbar (U.S. Army), Christopher Hooper (U.S. Navy), Jeremy Johnson (U.S. Navy veteran), Mark Mazzone (U.S. Army), Beth Schissel (U.S. Air Force veteran), Julianne Sohn (U.S. Marine Corps veteran), and Brynn Tannehill (U.S. Navy veteran).

The current Board of Directors consists of advocates for LGBT service members, veterans, and their families. The directors on the board are Laila Ireland (U.S. Army veteran), director of membership, Brynn Tannehill (U.S. Navy veteran), director of advocacy, Bryan Bree Fram (U.S. Air Force), director of policy, Jacob Eleazer (U.S. National Guard), secretary, Danyiel Brustmeyer (U.S. Marine Corps), director of communications, Sue Fulton (U.S. Army veteran), director-at-large, and Blake Dremann (U.S. Navy), current board chair and president.^[1]

History

On July 22, 2013, around 120 LGBT service members and veterans announced they were leaving OutServe-SLDN to begin SPART*A, Inc., to better focus on the mission of securing open service for transgender service members, strengthening the culture of inclusion and diversity with the U.S. Armed Forces.^[2]

First Congregation

Between January 18-20 2014, SPART*A held its first strategy meeting in Houston.^[3] The event was sponsored by the National Center for Transgender Equality and led by Policy Director Allyson Robinson, Director-At-Large Sue Fulton, and Director of Advocacy Brynn Tannehill and Mara Keisling. Former Navy veteran Fallon Fox accepted to appear as the keynote speaker.

Importance of event

30 service members met to share stories, get to know each other in the fight and to get some media training. Over the course of the event, different organizations, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, and the National Center for Transgender Equality, offered guidelines and support networks were established to help support the many service members that continued to serve in silence.

There Senior Airman Logan Ireland met Cpl. Laila Villanueva, and the two are now married.^[4] They legally changed their names while serving active duty and became the face of the push for the inclusion of transgender service members.

Keynote Speaker Brynn Tannehill

On September 13, 2014, SPART*A'a Director of Advocacy Brynn Tannehill spoke as the keynote speaker at the 2014 TransPride Pittsburgh National Conference.^[5] In her powerful speech,^[6] Tannehill described her time as being closeted as being in a tortured state of despair that left her feeling stranded amongst a sea of help. Her theme of visibility resonated throughout her speech as she emphasized for those around her to recognize that transgender people are real people despite their gender identity or expression.

Secretary Carter signals support for transgender service

On February 23, 2015, Defense Secretary Ash Carter signaled support for allowing transgender individuals to serve in the military after meeting with service members serving in Kandahar, Afghanistan. On that occasion, Secretary Carter met with a SPART*A member, Senior Airman Logan Ireland, who introduced himself as one of the 15,000 transgender service members currently serving in silence.

Transgender, at War and in Love

On June 4, 2015, The New York Times released the Emmy-nominated short film 'Transgender, at War and in Love' following the careers of Senior Airman Logan Ireland and Army nurse, Cpl. Laila Villanueva as they transgress the military together.^[7]

At the White House

On June 24, 2015, Senior Airman Logan Ireland was invited as Obama's guest to the White House's 2015 pride reception. He and his wife, Laila Ireland, attended the event as representatives of SPART*A and all transgender military personnel. Logan Ireland received support from his command and was given an exception to wear the men's dress uniform to the event and to adhere to male grooming standards. However, Laila's unit was not as supportive of her decision to be an out trans woman and did not grant her the same exception for her to wear the Army's female dress uniform. She attended the event in civilian attire.^[8]

Raise of discharge level raised to the secretary level

By the end of June 2015, Secretary Carter raised the discharge level for transgender service members to the secretary level. The review of transgender military service had begun. Because of SPART*A's members continuous work, they met with various service secretaries, service chiefs, and personnel chiefs, as well as many senior leaders in helping to accomplish this feat. The purpose of their meetings was to win the informational side of the discussions with personal stories and face time, not to gain notoriety from the press.

SPART*A wins Vetty

On November 11, 2015, SPART*A won the LGBT Veterans Vetty award hosted by Mission Complete for its work in providing support for LGBT service members, working to secure open service for transgender service members and providing support network for members and their families.^[9]

SPART*A members meet with Pentagon in Historic Meeting

On June 24, 2016, representatives from SPART*A met with Secretary of Defense Ash Carter to detail an historic meeting paving the way for open service for transgender service members in the U.S. Armed Forces. The attendees included one member each of the different branches: Army Captain Jennifer Peace, Navy Lieutenant Blake Dermann, an Airman and a Marine, whom both wished to be anonymous. Also present was Sue Fulton, SPART*A's president.^[10]

End of ban

On June 26, 2016, SPART*A celebrated the Pentagon’s announcement confirming that transgender Americans will be able to serve their country as out individuals in the service and receive equal treatment alongside other service members. Former Navy Lt. Commander Brynn Tannehill, SPART*A’s director of advocacy and author of the widely accepted comprehensive guide to transgender military service^[11] (which is now redacted due to the attempted reinstatement of the ban by President Donald Trump and his administration), said “This has been long fought for, and long-awaited. Through it all, members of SPART*A have exemplified the honor and professionalism which our country has come to expect from its military. I am proud of what they have accomplished, and look forward to seeing all they accomplish going forward serving openly with dignity, honor, and pride.”^[12]

SPART*A Future Warriors

In July 2016, SPART*A started their Future Warriors program for those looking to enlist. It provided a place to discuss new guidance, current guidance, lessons learned and information about how to talk to the recruiter. The first enlistee was a SPARTA Future Warrior that they had mentored for over a year.^[13]

Announcement of new president

On August 30, 2016, SPART*A announced their new Board Chair and President of the organization as active duty Navy Lt. Cdr. Blake Dremann.

First Openly Transgender Service Member Promoted

On September 9, 2016, President and Board Chair Dremann is promoted to the rank of Lt. Cdr. in the Navy and becomes the first openly transgender service member to be promoted in the service. Dremann was promoted by Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Operation Energy Amanda Simpson, who is the first transgender woman appointee in the U.S. government and is the highest ranking transgender person in the federal government and Department of Defense.^[14]

Gender markers begin changing

As early as October 2016, transgender service members began receiving support for the change in their gender markers. SPART*A provides guidance for each of the services, templates, and lessons learned as members move through the process.

First out transgender recruit

On February 27, 2017, SPART*A along with OutServe-SLDN, and American Military Partner Association (AMPA) celebrated the news that the first out transgender recruit had signed up to join the U.S. Armed Forces.^[15]

Reinstatement of ban

On July 26, 2017, President Donald Trump announced through Twitter^[16][17][18] that transgender troops will no longer be allowed to serve, SPART*A’s President Dremann said to The New York Times in response, “As transgender service members, we are and have always been soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen first. We serve our country honorably, in good faith.”^[19]

Transgender service member gets first gender reassignment surgery

On November 14, 2017, the Pentagon approved a medical request from openly transgender Army Spc. Alex Ketchum. Spc. Ketchum is the first transgender service member to receive gender reassignment surgery, and currently, the only transgender service member approved for the very invasive operation.^[20]

SPART*A had a significant role to play in helping Spc. Ketchum receive the medical treatment that had been promised to all transgender service members under former President Barack Obama. The request was able to go through the proper channels even after President Donald Trump had announced a few months earlier that he was working on reinstating the ban that blocked the service of transgender individuals and those who are diagnosed with a gender identity disorder.

Currently

SPART*A continues to work with service members and advocates for them at various levels to ensure that commanders understand what the current policy is and is not. They are currently advisors to the four court cases, Stockman v. Trump by Equality California (California), Karnowski v. Trump led by Lambda Legal and Outserve-SLDN ( Washington state), Doe v. Trump by National Center Lesbian Rights and GLAD (DC), Stone v. Trump led by the ACLU (Maryland) and to civilian advocate organizations. They are not choosing to participate a full capacity to ensure that they can still access help from the Pentagon when needed.

Creation of SPART*A

On July 22, 2013, 120 LGBT veterans and members currently serving in the armed forces announced that they were leaving the LGBT military advocacy group OutServe-SLDN to start their group which will focus more explicitly on securing open military service for transgender individuals and equality for all.

OS-SLDN responded to this group’s formation by immediately cutting ties with the members of this new organization as they tried to deal with inner mayhem that revolved around the forced resignation of transgender Army veteran Allyson Robinson, that was followed by other high-profile resignations in protest of Robinson’s removal and the inability to come to unanimous agreements.

Fallout from OutServe-SLDN

The decision to start their organization was focused on the mission of securing the rights for transgender identifying individuals to be allowed to serve openly in the U.S. armed forces. These members felt that OS-SLDN was no longer serving the interests of transgender service members and were not willing to advocate for equality for all in the armed forces. The majority of OS-SLDN's agenda focusing on open transgender service was a fight that they were not actively willing to participate in as funding had become an issue due to the fact that their main mission of repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) had been achieved in 2011. These reservations actively led to the situation regarding the resignation of Robinson and the other high-profile resignations, including the resignation of OutServe's founder, Josh Seefried, from the board and his position as co-chair.

Former Navy Lt. Commander Brynn Tannehill said in a statement that the 120-member group deliberated about their options moving forward and felt that the implementation of SPART*A would better allow for them to focus on transgender service needs and help push for a more inclusive and diverse military overall.^[21]

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