ARLINGTON, Va., June 30 (UPI) — Nearly a year after calling for an intensive review of the issue, U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter on Thursday formally announced the repeal of the Pentagon’s ban on transgender service members.
Carter said there were three main reasons for the policy change: to maintain a strong armed forces, to acknowledge transgender members presently serving, and as a matter of principle.
“We need to avail ourselves to the top talent possible,” Carter said in the Pentagon briefing room Thursday afternoon. “Our mission is to defend this country, and we don’t want barriers to a person’s qualification to serve.
“We are ending the ban on transgender Americans in the U.S. military. Effective immediately, they can serve openly.”
Carter initiated a review of the ban last summer, which was performed by the RAND Corp. The Defense secretary said the think tank concluded that the cost difference would be “minimal” for various services needed by transgender service members, among other things.
“We have to have access to 100 percent of America’s population for our all-volunteer force,” Carter said. “We are talking about talented and trained Americans serving their country with service and honor.
“I have a responsibility to them and their commanders to provide clear guidelines.”
One example of inequality for U.S. transgender service members, Carter said, is that before the policy change they were required to seek medical care outside the military’s network and pay for various routine treatments out of their own pockets.
Since the call for a review last year, many have expected the Pentagon to lift the transgender ban. Carter indicated last July that the ban would be removed unless RAND’s review turned up serious obstacles to doing so.
Still, some top brass in the Department of Defense opposed the policy change, citing various concerns. Carter, however, said that continuing to discriminate against current and potential service members on the basis of gender would do a lot more harm than good.
“Americans who want to serve should be able to,” he said. “All Americans are free and equal and we as an army are sworn to protect that principle.”
Carter, who called the review over the past year “an education process,” mentioned that the militaries of 18 other nations, including Great Britain’s, allow transgender service members.
“They don’t want special treatment. They want to be held to the same standards as everyone else,” Carter said.
In announcing the ban’s removal, the Defense secretary also outlined several Pentagon efforts to effectively make the U.S. military transgender-friendly. Carter said simply announcing a policy change is not sufficient, citing the Bill Clinton-era “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy as an example.
