Ava is worried about hard attitude toward transgender people in defense
The home defense in Boden is located in a yellow building just outside town. Here everything is sorted in order. Car keys hang in a row. Some snowshoes are on the repair shelf.
Ava Wizelius, 40, picks with his green combat vest, which will be packed into a bag.
– I’m old -fashioned. I think there is a pride in the uniform. You represent an authority and a people, she says.
In one of the west pockets she finds an empty bag of peanuts with barbecue flavor, which has remained since the last exercise.
– I have let the children test the defense sponge cake at some point. They thought it was like a dishcloth, she says, laughing.
The voice is still A little hoarse. Three weeks ago Ava Wizelius operated the vocal cords. The result is not expected to be clear until a year, and then her voice should be a little lighter and softer. It will facilitate, she believes.
– All government contacts on the phone become complicated when you have a female social security number but sound like a man.
She has just started a new, fixed -term employment as an instructor in the Home Guard. She enjoys and thinks it feels fun, but right now something else is spinning in the head.
Donald Trump’s interventions against transgender people on the other side of the Atlantic.
At the end of February Declained Pentagon that they start a process where employees who have shown traces of gender dysphoria should be fired.
The decision is based on the White House, where the president believes that transgender people belong to the ideological Woke flora that he wants to clear away.
Soldiers who do not accept dismissal risk getting about half of the severance pay that is paid out if you go voluntarily. Some key people with gender dysphoria may receive exceptions, including if they are indispensable for the US war organization. In total, there may be more than 4,000 people, According to CNN.
– It’s totally crazy. I think it is incredibly counterproductive. There is no evidence that transgender people are worse than others, says Ava Wizelius.
During the Pride Week In 2024, the Armed Forces made an update on the term « Fight to the last man ». Instead, Swedish soldiers will « fight to the last hen ».
– The Armed Forces have long worked to promote diversity and inclusion. This campaign is a further step in showing how important it is to remind everyone’s equal value, said Johan Landeström, Marketing Manager at the Armed Forces, in a press release.
There was a debate. The advertising campaign got criticism In order to be left -wing ideologically characterized and the Armed Forces were asked not to lend themselves to political positions.
Ava Wizelius has seen the Armed Forces from within – from several perspectives. Previously, she was called André, was a civilian as head of the Armed Forces’ technical school, and part of the men’s community at work. But after coming out, it changed.
– There were associations for women in the Armed Forces, but you were not in the same way welcome in them as a trans person. And your male colleagues, they are phasing you out and pushes you in the second camp. But unless the other camp receives you, where should you be then?
She quit like Civilian employee, worked privately for a while but wanted to return to the uniform. Now she enjoys the job in the home defense, but is prepared to be examined harder. So she feels that it has been before.
-It’s a little bit like when you sit and play a video game. If you are you play, the setting « Easy ». If you are a biological woman, you play on « Medium ». But if you are a trans person I think you play on « hard », actually.
For her, the thoughts came that something was not right already at puberty. She describes what followed as a « black drain hole », where all the focus went to hold on to the edge.
– I thought it would go over. But it didn’t, she says.
André Wizelius bought fast cars, drank spirits and was loud. Ava describes her past life as a long « Male Bucket List », which was about ticking a list of traditional male characteristics.
– I tried to play that theater. But that’s also when I built my family and my career. I probably would not have been able to get that as a trans person, she says.
When André came out Like AVA at the age of 30, and began the journey towards changing the sex, the family supported the change. The desire to contribute to the defense has been constant, and Ava Wizelius follows how transgender people are sold out in the United States.
– It went fast. But it is always nice to have a weak group that you can blame, she says.
Eva-Marie Winblad Österlind is acting Deputy Director of Personnel at the Swedish Armed Forces. She fits the question of what she thinks about US handling of transgender people and rather answers how the Swedish defense force views inclusion.
– We think exactly the same way we have always done. The role of the Armed Forces is to defend Sweden in a sharp position and our allies against armed attacks. But it is also to stand up for the form of government and preserve democratic values.
Eva-Marie Winblad Österlind points out that the form of government, one of Sweden’s constitution, contains writings that the general public should work for all people to achieve participation and equality in society.
– It’s very important, she says.
It is the authority’s message from above. At the same time, there is a everyday life in a large organization, where it does not always become as the top managers want. Ava Wizelius has felt alone in previous jobs in the Armed Forces.
– This union and the group spirit that are great for cohesion, it is not covered in the same way. It gets a little tricky. This particular bit is much better in, for example, civilian officials organizations. I have experienced that, she says.
Eva-Marie Winblad Österlind thinks that the Armed Forces need to continue working with the authority’s values and code of conduct.
– Every individual who feels that this was not good for me, it’s a failure. We need to find out and work with that. We have focused on this issue for a number of years and want to work proactively, not reactively, ”she says.
