Military Reforms: Transgender Members of the Military (Assignment date: 6-22-16)

         In an editorial titled "Transgender Troops Protected at Last," the author discussed the lifting of the ban on transgender people from serving in the military that took place recently, announced in a speech by the Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter. During his speech, he stated "We have to have access to 100 percent of America's population for our all-volunteer force to be able to recruit from among them the most highly qualified - and to retain them." This is a landmark step for the mainstream cultural inclusion of another population in American society, at the governmental level at least. While the measure does not do anything for acceptance at a personal level between members of the military, the lift of this ban is crucial to aid that sort of acceptance between peers that has the potential to cause massive problems if absent.
          Besides being a large step forward for the military, the lifting of the transgender ban has not come without its own set of problems. Currently the requirement for transgender civilians to join the military is to have been in their new gender for a year and a half at minimum, and have all of their transition procedures finished. This requirement is extremely high and demanding due to the fact that it often takes years for a transgender person to make the personal decisions pertaining to their medical operations. These often range from hormone replacements to miscellaneous surgeries. Because of this, the article argues that they "should be forced to affirm that they have completed a medical transition before enlisting if they are healthy and fit for the strenuous requirements of military life." While this criticism is valid, and has been confirmed to be taken into account for the revising of the guidelines for transgender people to join the military within the next two years, having a mid-transition transgender person in the military does have the possibility to cause issues within the ranks of the military. Transgender people who are midway through their transitions should be able to serve, but there should be a limitation to prevent any possible medical problems. What the Department of Defense will most likely come up with is to allow them to serve, but only if they can prove they are medically able to serve without risk at their current transition phase. That way all medical liabilities are eliminated while allowing the maximum number of volunteer recruits.

Article Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/01/opinion/transgender-troops-protected-at-last.html?ref=opinion&_r=0