Giving Compass' Take:

• In this Mission Continues essay, transgender soldier Joey Wimple details the psychological toll he endured being in the Army, while being unable transition.

• What can the nonprofit world do to help protect LGBTQ+ service members and workers in all fields from discrimination?

• Here's why the fight for transgender rights transcends the United States.

I loved being a soldier and I am proud to be a transgender person. No one deserves to endure what I did.

I had the desire to join the Army as a result of two driving forces. The first, my grandfather was a disabled World War II Veteran who fell madly in love with my grandmother, an Army nurse who treated his wounds. As you can tell by that quick anecdote, military service was deeply rooted into my family’s framework.

The second motive to enlist was that I desperately needed to feel a connection to something. I needed some sense of belonging. I needed a community. My childhood was fairly grim and clouded. Being transgender but not being able to identify my feelings to an actual concept caused me to have crippling social anxiety and overwhelming sorrow.

I isolated myself, and fell into a deep, daunting, depression. It was as if I was drowning.

I needed to belong to a group and contribute to a cause larger than myself. I had no time to waste — I left home for the United States Army at the age of 17, a few days after my high school graduation.

Read the full article about one transgender's soldier's story of hardships by Joey Wimple at Mission Continues Blog.