Every day of Pride Month, Mashable will be sharing illuminating conversations with members of the LGBTQ community who are making history right now.
Ryan Karnoski is a 24-year-old married social worker from Seattle who dreams of joining the military. His grandfathers and cousins have served, and he hopes to be part of that family legacy. Karnoski also happens to be transgender.
Just a few years ago, during the Obama administration, Karnoski could've served openly as a transgender man. But when President Trump unexpectedly tweeted in July 2017 that the government would no longer "accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military," Karnoski felt compelled to take a stand. If his last name sounds familiar, it's probably because you've heard it in the context of a court case: Karnoski v. Trump.
Karnoski is the lead plaintiff in one of four lawsuits challenging the Trump administration's decision to ban transgender people from the military. In January, the Supreme Court permitted the administration to carry out the policy while Karnoski's case, along with the others, works its way through the federal court system.
The administration argues the policy isn't a ban because troops who previously received a diagnosis of gender dysphoria may continue serving. But experts say the recently implemented regulations require those who come out now to identify as the gender assigned to them at birth. Those rules also allow the military to deny medical care related to transitioning and give commanders who suspect gender dysphoria the authority to start an administrative process that could lead to a service member's dismissal. In order to join the military, Karnoski would either have to renounce his gender identity or apply for a waiver, which is subject to the discretion of an approval board.
"All of the trans people that are being impacted by this military ban, we don’t just go home everyday and disappear into the ether."
Though Karnoski is adjusting to the reality of being reduced to a headline or a few sentences in a news story, he wants the public to know he and others in this fight are not just characters in a legal drama.
"All of the trans people that are being impacted by this military ban, we don’t just go home everyday and disappear into the ether," Karnoski says. "We have families, and we have hobbies, and we have hopes and aspirations for our careers that are being impacted by this really insidious and problematic and unfounded legal assertion that trans people are less than because of their identity.
"And I want people to know that when they’re discriminating against Ryan the transgender person, they’re also discriminating against a married social worker who likes baseball and hiking and weight lifting and all these other things that make me a whole person."
The interview below has been edited for length and clarity.
Mashable: You want to join the military as an openly transgender service member. How did you know this particular dream was worth fighting for, to the point of suing the Trump administration?
Ryan Karnoski: It’s something that I’ve always wanted to do. There’s kind of a family tradition of military service. Both of my grandfathers served in the Army during the Korean War era. One served overseas in Korea. I have a lot of cousins who’ve been in the Army and the Navy. One of my cousins was killed in action overseas and I think my professional calling has always been to social work. And after seeing what my cousin’s family went through, to make it through that loss, I think it just kind of really hit home that I would like to serve my country within my own professional capacity, which is as a social worker.
Mashable: I’m sorry to hear about the loss of your cousin. I know that must have been devastating for your family. I know that those kinds of stories are what motivate so many people to join. How did you come to the conclusion that [suing the administration] was the right thing for you to do?
RK: I don’t think anybody really gets up in the morning and thinks like, ‘Oh, today would be a good day to sue the commander-in-chief of this entity that I would like to serve in.' That’s a really huge choice to have to make that has an impact on not just me but my spouse and my family, the clients that I serve. I’m kind of out publicly for everyone who has the internet to go and look me up and see I’m involved in this lawsuit, and that’s a really big choice, especially as a social worker where you always put the needs of your clients first in everything that you do. But I just think that it’s something that’s so important and it’s a calling that I have. And after hearing about the ban, I reached out to [the civil rights organization] Lambda Legal, and that was that.
(Editors' note: Lambda Legal and the nonprofit legal services organization OutServe-SLDN filed Karnoski's lawsuit on behalf of him and several other individual and organizational plaintiffs.)
Mashable: You seem comfortable with a leadership role, but becoming a lead plaintiff in a high-profile court case like this is something else altogether. How has the experience affected you? What have you learned?
RK: I’ve had this amazing opportunity to learn about the stories of other people who were affected by this ban as well. It’s a real honor to get to be in their company and learn about some of these just incredible sacrifices that out trans service members and their families have made. That’s something that’s been really meaningful throughout this process.
I’ve also learned a little bit about how the court system works. As a social worker, I know about the things that I know about in my field, but there’s so much that goes into ... learning about what does this court do, and what does that court do ... It’s definitely been inspiring to see all of these different people from different walks of life coming together for this one shared driving force, and that [driving force] is everybody has this sole desire to serve their country.
Mashable: How did you feel earlier this year when you learned that the Supreme Court decided to allow the military to begin implementing the Trump administration’s ban?
RK: It’s frustrating. It harms a lot of people. There are a lot of people who now -- it’s not just focusing on doing their job, they also have to worry about their job security. And then for people like me, or other people who want to serve in the military, now it’s not even just about all of the sacrifices involved in making that commitment, to serve that calling, it’s also about the timeline of when the ban was going to set in and people scrambling to get their paperwork in or get a diagnosis and having to worry about all of that on top of a process that already asks a lot of a person. I think it’s really sad.
Mashable: If you are victorious at the end of this, you presumably will [join the military] and be able to serve openly. What happens if you’re not necessarily victorious?
RK: I’m hopeful that we will be victorious in court. I think it’s just a matter of time before inevitably the ban would get struck down through whichever way eventually does that. Trans people have been out serving in the military and continue to do so every day. Anything to limit that or hinder that I think is extremely problematic.
Mashable: Some of the policies put forth by the Trump administration over the past few years have, in various ways, negatively affected people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer. How would you characterize the way LGBTQ communities have fought those policies? Are you inspired by that activism, of which you're arguably a part of?
RK: Honestly, I don’t see myself as being any big leader. I think anything I do is on the shoulders of giants. And I think I’m in the company of a lot of people who are doing really, really incredible work in their own personal spheres to raise awareness about trans issues and trans military service.
"I think anything I do is on the shoulders of giants."
There are people who made huge sacrifices in their careers and personal lives to come out until this ban was lifted. A lot of people are either being forced back into the closet or being told that they can’t live as their authentic selves in order to serve their country to the standards that are set forth. That’s something that’s very hard for me to grapple with as somebody who’s been out for most of their adult life. I am male and to ask me to present or live or work as anything other than that would be disingenuous. And in order to do my job that I do, I have to be a genuine, honest, open person, and that person just so happens to be male and a person who is transgender. I think that it’s important for transgender people to know we’re not giving up and we’re not going to take legal steps backwards. We’re going to stand up for ourselves and live and work and serve our country authentically.
Mashable: How do you stay hopeful about the future?
RK: I think I’m hopeful because I have good reason to be. I’m hopeful because I think it’s impossible to ignore the contributions that transgender Americans have made to our country’s military readiness ... At this point, we can only move forward, and I think that we will. I think that anybody that has the opportunity to meet or hear the story of, or look at the merits of the transgender people that we are, and that we’re fighting for this right to serve our country — anybody that looks at some of these skills and these strengths that we bring would be really hard pressed to find a reason why any transgender person would not be fit to serve solely based on their transgender status.
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