The American Medical Association this week approved a resolution against the ban on transgender people serving openly in the military. The AMA, one of the largest professional organizations in the country, with more than 200,000 members, has thrown its considerable weight behind open service for all. The repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" nearly five years ago �" and its implementation in the fall of 2011 �" meant that gay, lesbian, and bisexual service members could serve openly. But the ban on trans service members persisted. And, during the debate on repealing DADT, gay and lesbian service members refrained from talking about the transgender ban (which was not codified into law) because they feared Congress might enact a formal ban. That didn't happen, but it might as well have. Trans people are serving in silence, afraid to live their lives in their preferred gender.
Now, with more advocates pushing for full equality in the armed forces, the time may be near when that ban is lifted, too. At the Pentagon Pride ceremony this week, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter missed an opportunity when he did not specifically mention out transgender military service. He did talk about inclusivity and announced that the Pentagon would be adding sexual orientation to the Defense Department's equal opportunity policy �" a welcome development. But with trans people in the room, Carter could have made history by advocating open service for all.
The AMA's support of open trans military service should bolster advocates' efforts with military brass. According to the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, there are about 15,000 transgender personnel who currently serve in active, guard, and reserve components of the military. It also noted that current military medical regulations "bar transgender individuals from enlisting in the military; require them to be discharged if discovered during military service; and prohibit doctors from providing medically necessary treatment for gender dysphoria."
Just as prohibiting LGB people from serving openly was wrong, the military's policy against trans service members is discriminatory, dangerous, and prevents people from living their lives as their authentic selves. Transgender civilians in the federal work force have legal protections from discrimination; the same should apply to those in the military.
The American Psychiatric Association declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder in 1973; the American Psychological Association followed suit in 1975. The AMA's resolution finds "that there is no medically valid reason to exclude transgender individuals from service in the U.S. Military" and affirms that "transgender service members be provided care as determined by patient and physician according to the same medical standards that apply to non-transgender personnel."
The Palm Center, a San Francisco-based think tank that studies gender, sexuality, and the military, noted that retired and former military leaders testified in support of the AMA resolution at the association's meetings before it was passed at its convention in Chicago. Paula Neira, a former U.S. Navy lieutenant and transgender veteran who serves on the center's Transgender Military Advisory Committee, said the AMA resolution "acknowledges that the current exclusionary regulations are unsupported by modern medicine and prevent the military from taking care of our troops by denying them medically necessary care." The AMA, she added, "has once again taken a stand recognizing that medical standards should reflect science and foster best practices based on evidence."
The military should lift its prohibition on trans military service. People who want to serve their country should be able to do so openly, honestly, and with the same benefits others enjoy. Carter should immediately begin formulating the necessary procedures to make open service for all a reality.