TAVA
relaunches
with new website |
|
For immediate release:
Transgender American Veterans Association (TAVA)
has announced it's relaunch and
updated
mission statement.
Angela Brightfeather, TAVA's President and one
of the original cofounders, stated that TAVA is
reorganizing and will emerge stronger and more
relevant than ever. "For years our mission
had been to get the Veterans Administration to
acknowledge the need for transgender health
care," Brightfeather stated. "When the Veterans
Administration addressed this need in June 2011,
we felt that the bulk of our mission has been
accomplished.
However
recent events
such
as the emergence of recent cases of Transgender
service members, coping in society after serving
in Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom
have brought to light the fact that we are more
relevant than ever."
TAVA's mission statement has grown beyond
addressing only Transgender Veterans. "Our
Mission statement will continue to address
transgender healthcare in the Veterans
Administration, and also look to expand them."
Brightfeather explained, "We will also address
active transgender military service, spouse and
family support, and transgender veteran
employment issues among other things." Primary
of TAVA's goals are a way to fund Gender
Reassignment Surgery through the Veterans
Administration. "These
veterans served honorably, and in silence. This
is an acknowledged medical need and therefore it
is incumbent upon the Veterans Administration to
find a way so that veterans can receive the
proper medical care they deserve. This includes
Gender Reassignment Surgery."
TAVA also looks to be front and center in the
current research regarding open Transgender
military service. "TAVA intends to close ranks
with many of the organizations that are
researching the issue of open Transgender
service and, as has been the case in the past,
we will stand ready to inform and educate the
Department of Defense
as to what our findings are,"
Brightfeather stated.
TAVA, a 501 c 3, is the only Transgender
Veterans group in the United States. "We have
been at this for well over a decade and while we
have seen some significant improvements,
particularly with the Veterans Administration,
there is still a lot of work to be done,"
according to Brightfeather. "We are looking
to
re-energize our membership base going forward,
while exploring ways to add more concrete
services to our membership."
TAVA
has launched our updated website,
www.tavausa.org,
and will be sending out newsletters which will
be forwarded to membership.
Additionally, TAVA intends to reach out to more
traditional Veteran Service Organizations in
order to build ties and also offer services to
transgender veterans that traditional venues may
be reluctant to work with due to lack of
education and knowledge of resources. "The
transgender phenomena had its roots with
military veterans," according to Dayna Walker,
with TAVA Outreach. "Christine Jorgensen
returned from service in World War II and was
the first person highly publicized to seek
Gender Reassignment Surgery in the United
States. The fact that it's been nearly 70 years
and our military, and society as a whole, are
still struggling with this issue indicates there
is a huge need for an organization such as this
that can lead from the front and educate those
that would be our detractors."
As TAVA
relaunches,
it
seeks to bolster its ranks of not only veterans
but those serving on Active Duty. "The
sensitivity
of
those serving silently is paramount, but at the
same time we need to be able
to develop statistics on transgender personnel
serving in our armed forces,"
stated Brightfeather. TAVA intends to continue
to safeguard it's members information and allow
actively serving members of the military to have
a voice through this organization while
safeguarding their privacy.
For more information, please visit
http://www.tavausa.org/. Media
inquiries please contact
media@tavausa.org
or call 718-849-5665, or
outreach@tavausa.org