After twenty years of service, Ms. Stanley retired from the United States Army. As one of the first transgender servicemembers to transition while on active duty and continue to serve through retirement, she has accumulated her share of experiences.

She is a mother to five children who are well represented on the gender and sexuality spectrums in their ways. She is a combat veteran from her deployment to Afghanistan. She served the Army first as an Apache helicopter repairer and later as a radiology technologist. Her work in the medical field led her to fulfill her great desire to help others in ever-growing populations.

Being transgender and a lesbian, she knows well what it has been like to live in hiding and fear in the closet. She joined the Army in 2003 when “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was still the law, and even when DADT was repealed, the ban on open transgender service remained. She came out as openly transgender when the ban was first lifted in 2016. She endured the ban’s reinstatement in 2019 and celebrated its reversal in 2021.

After retirement, she advocated for LGBTQ+ persons, particularly those in the military and government service. She is a public speaker and has appeared in many media features, interviews, and discussion panels. She serves on two boards of directors for non-profit organizations supporting transgender servicemembers and veterans. She has a leading support role in an organization that supports LGBTQ+ children in military families.

When there were no support groups to help her, she started them. She believes strongly in assisting others to achieve their authentic self.

Ms. Stanley holds a Top Secret – Special Compartmented Information security clearance. She is also a certified Life Coach. She is a widow and a survivor in her own right.

Ms. Stanley realizes that one of the worst feelings is to believe that ‘no one knows what it’s like to go through what I’m going through.’ Through her work with advocacy organizations such as Minority Veterans of America, Modern Military Association of America, Transgender American Veterans of America, and SPARTA, her efforts are consistent towards improving the lives of the LGBTQ+ members of the military community – be they the Servicemembers themselves or their Families.

Post-retirement, Alleria is focused on continuing her work in LGBTQ+ advocacy with a focus on the military community. She is working tirelessly to advance the causes of LGBTQ+, particularly transgender members of the military, their families, and veterans.