\u201cI'm queer and I served under Don't Ask, Don't Tell. If you got caught, if someone reported you-- you didn't get a court date, you got a\u201d

— Saundra Mitchell (On Hiatus) (@Saundra Mitchell (On Hiatus)) 1501079855

\u201cseparation date. They gave you a general discharge (instead of an honorable one,) usually on a Section 8: "mentally unfit for service." This\u201d

— Saundra Mitchell (On Hiatus) (@Saundra Mitchell (On Hiatus)) 1501079855

\u201cmeant you never qualified for veteran benefits of any kind: no VA service, no grants or scholarships as a veteran, no veteran housing\u201d

— Saundra Mitchell (On Hiatus) (@Saundra Mitchell (On Hiatus)) 1501079855

\u201cassistance, nothing. And it was on your transcripts forever: GENERAL DISCHARGE, MENTALLY UNFIT FOR SERVICE. Imagine what that does when you\u201d

— Saundra Mitchell (On Hiatus) (@Saundra Mitchell (On Hiatus)) 1501079855

\u201chave to apply for civilian employment. So you joined the military because you were patriotic, or because you wanted to learn a career, or\u201d

— Saundra Mitchell (On Hiatus) (@Saundra Mitchell (On Hiatus)) 1501079855

\u201cyou were poor and wanted to get the GI Bill, or because you truly, genuinely believed that you were working in service to the American\u201d

— Saundra Mitchell (On Hiatus) (@Saundra Mitchell (On Hiatus)) 1501079855

\u201cpeople and to the ideals of creating a more perfect union. But if you were queer, they sectioned you out and stained you for life. I cried\u201d

— Saundra Mitchell (On Hiatus) (@Saundra Mitchell (On Hiatus)) 1501079855

\u201cat Pride a few years ago, when I saw those out and proud servicepeople marching in the parade. We had come so far, THEY had come so far, and\u201d

— Saundra Mitchell (On Hiatus) (@Saundra Mitchell (On Hiatus)) 1501079855

\u201cit healed in me the hurt I held in my heart from being sectioned out under DADA. Today's pronouncement from Trump cuts a new wound, deeper\u201d

— Saundra Mitchell (On Hiatus) (@Saundra Mitchell (On Hiatus)) 1501079855

\u201cbecause it sets us BACK. We aren't moving forward; we're moving back to shame and censure and erasure from public life and public service.\u201d

— Saundra Mitchell (On Hiatus) (@Saundra Mitchell (On Hiatus)) 1501079855

\u201cTens of thousands of transgender servicepeople are now on the verge of being separated from their service. Some may lose pensions, many will\u201d

— Saundra Mitchell (On Hiatus) (@Saundra Mitchell (On Hiatus)) 1501079855

\u201close the GI Bill. All will be marked GENERAL DISCHARGE, MENTALLY UNFIT FOR SERVICE. But I hope that they will have the strength to tell the\u201d

— Saundra Mitchell (On Hiatus) (@Saundra Mitchell (On Hiatus)) 1501079926

\u201cspeak the truth of their unjust discharge, because I never did. Not until today; I always told people that I got hurt. Which I did, but it\u201d

— Saundra Mitchell (On Hiatus) (@Saundra Mitchell (On Hiatus)) 1501079994

\u201cwould have healed. But I was never going to stop being queer, and somebody asked-- and somebody told. Support your #transServicepeople. What\u201d

— Saundra Mitchell (On Hiatus) (@Saundra Mitchell (On Hiatus)) 1501080044

\u201ccomes next could be unimaginable. #LamdaLegal #ACLU #TransRightsAreHumanRights\u201d

— Saundra Mitchell (On Hiatus) (@Saundra Mitchell (On Hiatus)) 1501080093