Are Transgender People Banned From The Military Or Not?

Angelica Ross

Angelica Ross is a transgender woman. Before the she transitioned, she enlisted into the Navy. She was being harassed by her fellow service men and coerced into saying that she was gay. Six months after enlisting she was discharged under Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. She is now a LBGT activist. (Angelica Ross n.d.)

In the last year there has been a lot of talk about LBGT people in the military. In this article I will be explaining past and current policies involving LGBT people in the military.

Don’t Ask Don’t Tell

In an article by Sarah Pruitt (2018), Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT) was signed into law under the Clinton Administration in 1994. There was already a ban on LBGT people prior to DADT, but this was made to be a compromise for people who did and didn’t want LGBT people in the military. This policy would allow LGBT people to serve, but they would have to stay in the closet. Service members weren’t supposed to ask, but if asked they weren’t obligated to answer.

The Repeal

In Pruitt’s article, President Obama said he was going get rid of DADT during his campaign in 2008. In 2010 the Pentagon surveyed service members on whether the repeal of DADT would have an impact. Sarah Pruitt said that 70% of service members would have a “mixed, positive, or no impact”. DADT was repealed on September 20, 2011, and the ban in homosexuality in the military was lifted.

Trump

According to the Human Rights Campaign, President Trump announced in 2017 that the military will no longer accept transgender people in a series of tweets. Many states and other government officials were against it. In January 2019 the supreme court voted in favor for the ban (5-4). On April 12, 2019 the ban went into place. The Department of Defense (DoD) says the is not a ban on transgender people, but a ban on gender dysphoria. Gender dysphoria, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) is a difference between a person’s experienced/expressed gender and assigned gender, also significant distress or problems functioning.

Survey

I wanted to see what the general public knew about this topic, so I decided to take a survey of my Instagram followers to see how much they know about this topic. I had three questions.

• To your knowledge are transgender people allowed in the military?
• To your knowledge did Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (A policy made by the Clinton Administration for LGBT people in the military) help or hinder LGBT people?
• Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was repealed by the Obama Administration in 2011. Did this help or hinder LGBT people?

40 people took the survey.

On the first question 74% of people said that transgender people aren’t allowed in the military, and 26% of people said that transgender people are allowed in the military.

On the second question 82% of people said that DADT hindered LGBT people, and 18% send the DADT helped LGBT people.

On the third question 23% of people said the repeal of DADT hindered LGBT people and 77% said it helped LGBT people.

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Today

Now, what if you identify as transgender and want to join the military? According to the DoD, this new policy is to enhance readiness. You can join the military as your biological sex if you aren’t diagnosed with gender dysphoria. If you’re diagnosed with gender dysphoria you are disqualified from joining, unless you are stable for 36 months and join as your biological sex. If you have gone through any medical transition you’re disqualified from military service.

Conclusion

These policies have changed about in the past 30 year, and they will probably continue to change in the future. There are many opinions on LBGT people in the military, but it is important to be informed without bias. I hope this article was beneficial.

Works Cited

“5 Things to Know About DOD’s New Policy on Military Service by Transge.” U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, http://www.defense.gov/Explore/News/Article/Article/1783822/5-things-to-know-about-dods-new-policy-on-military-service-by-transgender-perso/.

“Angelica Ross.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 1 Mar. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelica_Ross.

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-5. American Psychiatric Association, 2017.

Human Rights Campaign. “Transgender Military Service.” Human Rights Campaign, http://www.hrc.org/resources/transgender-military-service.

Pruitt, Sarah. “Once Banned, Then Silenced: How Clinton’s ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Policy Affected LGBT Military.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 25 Apr. 2018, http://www.history.com/news/dont-ask-dont-tell-repeal-compromise.

Author: August Galeazzi

Editor: Alex Madden