Five months ago, President Trump tweeted: “After consultation with my generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States government will not accept or allow … transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the US military.” He added: “Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming … victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail.”
US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly has ruled against the ban and last month told the military that it must allow trans people to enlist starting in January. Then Kollar-Kotelly rejected the federal government’s request to delay her order. “The court is not persuaded that defendants will be irreparably injured by allowing the accession of transgender individuals into the military beginning on Jan. 1, 2018,” she wrote. Three federal courts have ruled against the ban until now, including one on Dec. 11 in Washington state.
Maj. David Eastburn, a Pentagon spokesman, told The Associated Press that the new guidelines mean the Pentagon can disqualify potential recruits with gender dysphoria (a state of emotional distress caused by how someone’s body or the gender they were assigned at birth conflicts with their gender identity), a history of medical treatments associated with gender transition and those who underwent reconstruction. But such recruits are allowed in if a medical provider certifies they've been clinically stable in their preferred sex for 18 months and are free of significant distress or impairment in social, occupational or other important areas. Transgender individuals receiving hormone therapy must be stable on their medication for 18 months.
Another federal ruling declared that the military must also pay for trans-inclusive medical services, including gender-affirming surgeries. Last month, the Pentagon paid for gender-reassignment surgery for an active-duty military member. The RAND Corporation, in a 2016 study, found that allowing transgender people to serve openly in the military would “have minimal impact on readiness and health care costs” for the Pentagon. It estimated that health care costs would rise $2.4 million to $8.4 million a year, representing an increase of 0.04 to 0.13 percent in spending.
“What the ruling signals is that both the Pentagon and the courts have recognized that Trump was stepping out of his lane when he tweeted,” said Aaron Belkin, the director of the Palm Center, which advocates on behalf of the transgender community in the military. But, he added: “This could be a long process. We just don’t know what happens next.”
Sarah McBride, spokeswoman for Human Rights Campaign, praised the court's ruling, saying that it affirms "there is simply no legitimate reason to forbid willing and able transgender Americans from serving their country."
Photo Credits: Defense Media
