Carla Lewis is a transgender woman from Antioch Tennessee. She was discharged from the Air Force in 2010 for being gender dysphoric.

The 44-year-old's Facebook selfie from Friday has gone viral, with 11,000 likes and 14,000 shares.

The sentiment seems perfect for this Veterans Day.

Whenever a citizen volunteers for the armed services they immediately make the conscious decision that they will sacrifice their life if it means securing freedom for their fellow citizens.

Every right, every privilege enjoyed by an American citizen is paid with the currency of soldiers’ lives. Even if the rights and privileges secured enable others to lobby against me and my transgender brothers and sisters. Freedom matters to us

--Carla Lewis

When Carla's marriage began to crumble, her wife left her after outing her to her coworkers and family.

That led to a suicide attempt in which Carla dissolved 240 sleeping pills in Kool Aid before drinking it.

When people say it’s selfish to contemplate suicide, I think, ’It’s the most selfless thing [trans people] think they can do. All the pain trans people feel is what we put on them, the expectations they can’t meet. They don’t do that to themselves. We do that to them.

--Lewis

They tried to court martial me for being gay, but they couldn’t, so my discharge papers say that I’ve got mental disorders.

In the eyes of the military, being transgender is a blackmailable offense. The fear is that if you were not out, you could be blackmailed into giving away government secrets.

--Lewis

Two years ago, Lewis married another transgender woman, Jaime Combs, who she met at her first support group meeting in 1999.