The Pentagon announced on Thursday that it will lift a ban that prevents transgender people from openly serving in the USA military.
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Defense Secretary Ash Carter says it’s the right thing to do.
The new transgender policy will be phased in during a one-year period, but effective immediately, the military can no longer discharge or deny re-enlistment to troops based exclusively on their gender identity.
By Oct. 1, the Defense Department will establish and distribute a training handbook, medical protocol, and guidance for changing a service member’s gender. Last July, Carter said he meant to rescind the ban, calling it outdated. In 2011, the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy – which banned gay troops from openly discussing their sexuality – was repealed.
The United States’s military is not, as TK put it, “an instrument of social change”. This will certainly open the door for many transgender people who might not have thought they could serve in the military before, but how many transgender people are already serving in the military?
Carter said that the military’s personnel system will be changed so that service members can update their gender if they transition.
According to a 2014 study by RAND Corporation, about 2,500 people out of roughly 1.3 million USA active-duty service members and about 1,500 out of 825,000 reserve service members are transgender. Our military will now be able to recruit the very best candidates, and retain highly-trained, talented transgender service members once facing discharge for no other reason than who they are.
“This has been an educational process for a lot of people in the department, including me”, Carter said, describing his meetings with transgender service members.
“This is the latest example of the Pentagon and the president prioritizing politics over policy”, Thornberry said, adding that national security was dependent on USA troops being medically ready and deployable.
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Carter addressed these concerns Thursday, but eventually dismissed their legitimacy.
