Transgender veteran's selfie sends powerful message to society

A transgender veteran's selfie has gone viral...all because of the t-shirt she's wearing.

SEE ALSO: Transgender woman shuts down bathroom question with one viral photo

Meet Carla Lewis, a U.S. Air Force veteran from Tennessee, who was discharged from the military after being diagnosed with gender dysphoria in 2010.

%shareLinks-quote="A condition in which there is a conflict between a person's physical gender and the gender he or she identifies with." type="definition" word="Gender dysphoria" partofspeech="Noun" category="Medical"%

Lewis, 44, posted this selfie on her Facebook page Friday, Nov. 6. The caption reads "Today's casual Friday t-shirt: 'Transgender Veteran: I fought for your right to hate me.'"

Less than a week later, the image now has nearly 15K shares and hundreds of comments for the veteran.

%shareLinks-quote="Here's the message I want others to glean from this shirt: Whenever a citizen volunteers for the armed services they immediately, at the very moment, make the conscious decision that they will sacrifice their life if it means securing freedom for their fellow citizens." type="quote" author="Carla Lewis" authordesc="Huffington Post" isquoteoftheday="false"%

Currently, transgender people are banned from military service, but soon this will change. Back in July of this year, the Pentagon announced plans to lift the ban on transgender military in May 2016.

Take a look at the transgender community's famous advocates:

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