TV Review - TransMilitary (2018)

Transgender, at War and in Love (2015) is a short film that was produced for Op-Docs, the video-making arm of The New York Times. Fiona Dawson, Gabriel Silverman and Jamie Coughlin created the 12-minute documentary. It focused on Logan Ireland, a senior airman in the United States Air Force who comes out as being born female but is now living as a male. He's currently stationed in Kandahar, Afghanistan, serving as a combat soldier in a very austere environment. This short was nominated for a News Emmy, but it was ripe for more to be added to it. It was a nice glimpse into the life of a transgender soldier. Yet, more was needed.

Three years later, Dawson, Silverman and Coughlin have expanded those 10 minutes or so into 90. These 90 minutes focus on three other transgender soldiers who are or used to be serving in some branch of the armed services. The film follows them from the fall of 2014 into the spring of 2018. The film gives us more on Ireland's life and his relationships, as well as a wealth about the lives and relationships of the three other transgender soldiers. The film also provides a lot more context about what the soldiers are facing in terms of the policies and statistics against transgender people in the military and among civilians.

Laila Villanueva is a Corporal in the United States Army. She was born a male but identifies as a female. She's from Honolulu, Hawaii and has various family members who were also in the military. She was discharged after 12 years of service. She appears in the short film because she's the partner to Ireland. A bulk of the short film was dedicated to the two of them talking to each other about their mutual issues with the military and their love for each other through it all. It's a beautiful thing to watch, but it's also troubling to see them struggle and worry about being accepted for who they are.

However, it's an interesting contrast to see that Villanueva's experiences are almost opposite to that of Ireland. One of the signature moments from the short film is Villanueva reuniting with Ireland after he comes back from Afghanistan. Here, we get these contradictory expressions. Ireland says he'd rather stay in Afghanistan where he can be his true gender. His military experience is rewarding him. Villanueva wants him to come home because she was being shepherded out. Her military experience is rebuking her.

Jenn Peace is a Captain in the U.S. Army. She talks about her troubled background and how joining the military was a saving grace for her. Like Villanueva, she was born male but now identifies female. The timeline of her transition is never specifically laid out, but it seems as if she got married and had children, while still identifying as male, but it also seems she had transitioned before joining the army because she talks about being outed and forced to identify as female, which caused her to be afraid while in the army.

El Cook is a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He's African-American. He was born female but now identifies as male. It seems of the four soldiers, he's the most in the closet. He has friends outside of the military who know his identity. For the majority of his service, his fellow soldiers don't know who he truly is. It probably explains why we see less of him. We do get a great scene of him with his group of friends who are all cisgender black men.

Another great scene is watching Cook lying on a couch with his head in his father's lap and his legs spread across his mom. It's a scene that was reminiscent of one in Call Me By Your Name, which reveals the love and the support of parents of a queer child, even one who's a grown man. In fact, all the scenes involving the parents of the various soldiers are loving and supportive. Most are just interviews from the parents expressing just that and it's heartwarming and inspiring.

While layers of these four soldiers are peeled back, the filmmakers have a narrative roller coaster depicting the ups and downs of transgender rights in the military. There have been several films or even TV shows involving trans people. Yet, hardly any to none of them have been about trans people in the military. With 15,500 transgender people serving in the military, the military is the largest employer of trans people. This is in spite of the fact that medical regulations and guidelines de facto banned trans people. This movie is essentially an argument as to why banning trans people from the military makes no sense. It's not logical from either a readiness standpoint or even a financial or economic one. This film also shows that the ban really does more harm than good.

Not Rated but for general audiences.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 33 mins.

Aired November 15, 2018 on LOGO-TV.
Available on DVD/VOD as of January 8.