U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter moved the Pentagon closer to allowing transgender men and women to serve openly in the military. Carter order the creation of a Pentagon working group “to study over the next six months the policy and readiness implications of welcoming transgender persons to serve openly,” Carter said in a statement.
“At my direction, the working group will start with the presumption that transgender persons can serve openly without adverse impact on military effectiveness and readiness, unless and except where objective, practical impediments are identified,” Carter said.
In recent times, all of the U.S. uniformed services have moved the decision to dismiss troops with gender dysphoria, a defined medical condition, to their highest levels. This forces any commanders intent on discharging troops to take their case to the highest levels of civilian leadership (the undersecretary of defense), normally a risky career move.
In other words, the Obama administration has changed the rules to discourage any action against transgender troops.
In February, Carter said he was “very open-minded” about who should be able to serve provided “they can do what we need them to do for us.” He added: “I don’t think anything but their suitability for service should preclude them.”
Transgenders are currently prohibited from serving in the military for medical reasons. But the military currently has 15,500 transgender troops, many known to their colleagues and superiors.
The administration is using the same process they used to dismantle Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, the ban on gay troops in the military. Carter’s language about transgender troops presumes they can serve and puts the burden on opponents to argue why they should be banned.
“Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot…” Luke 17:28
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