ACLU: Army to recognize legal names of transgender veterans
Source: Associated Press
ACLU: Army to recognize legal names of transgender veterans
By BRUCE SHIPKOWSKI, Associated Press | December 2, 2014 | Updated: December 2, 2014 12:49pm
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — The U.S. Army has agreed to "fully recognize" the new legal names of two transgender military veterans, the American Civil Liberties Union said Tuesday.
The group's New Jersey chapter announced that the Army Board for Correction of Military Records recently notified the two veterans about its decision. The board initially recommended that the request be rejected, but the Army Review Boards' deputy assistant secretary overrode the decision.
"To get this news the week of Thanksgiving feels fitting," one of the veterans said in a release issued by the ACLU. "This is about much more than a change on a piece of paper. This is about the relief of knowing that when I apply for a job, or a home loan, or anything where my veteran status is relevant, I can do it as myself."
The New Jersey-based veterans, whose full names were not disclosed, were seeking to change their names on the principal document that a military veteran uses to prove a veteran's status. One of them was a sergeant major who served in the Army for 29 years, while the other was a New Jersey National Guardsman who served for nine.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/us/article/ACLU-Army-to-recognize-legal-names-of-5929675.php
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