The US military lifted the ban on transgender people to openly serve in
the military, with Defense Secretary Ash Carter saying that the armed
services “don’t want barriers unrelated to a person’s qualifications to
serve.” Ash Carter made the announcement at a Pentagon news conference
on Thursday, June 30. The change is said to be effective immediately.
Top Pentagon officials finalized details of the plan earlier in the
week.Carter said:
“The Defense Department and the military need to avail ourselves of all
talent possible in order to remain what we are now – the finest fighting
force the world has ever known”.”We don’t want barriers unrelated to a
person’s qualifications to serve preventing us from recruiting or
retaining the soldier, sailor, airman or Marine who can best accomplish
the mission.”
The plan directs every branch of the armed services to implement new
policies affecting recruiting, medical care, housing and uniforms for
transgender troops. The military services will conduct training for
commanders and medical personnel over the next 90 days who have
transgender personnel in their units. Over the next nine months, there
will be training for all military services and medical personnel in
regards to transgender military personnel.
“When the training is complete, no later than one year from today, the
military services will begin accessing transgender individuals who meet
all standards, holding them to the same physical and mental fitness
standards as everyone else who wants to join the military,” said Carter.
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| Army Intelligence Officer Captain Jennifer Peace and other transgender service members from SPARTA pose with Secretary of Defense Ash Carter on June 24, 2016. |
Last July he announced he would lift the ban and formed a task force to
review how that process would commence. He directed the task force to
work under the assumption that the ban would be lifted. The task force’s
assessment continued beyond the original six-month deadline, and
recommendations were not presented until February.
“All this represents a sea change from even a decade ago,” said Carter. “It’s important that we do it.”
According to a Rand Corp. study, an estimated 2,500 active service
members out of 1.3 million are transgender, and about 65 service members
seek to make a gender transition each year. The study determined that
any medical or institutional costs associated with the policy change
would be minimal.
Once the plan is fully in place, the military’s health care system will
pay for gender reassignment surgery. Any treatment will be categorized
as nonurgent and subject to a service member’s current readiness status.
For new transgender military hopefuls, they have to have had their
gender reassignments at least 18 months before joining the military and
have to be stable.
Source: ABC
