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House Democrats Call On Military To End Ban On Trans Service, In Light Of Supreme Court Decision

More than 100 House democrats are calling to end the military’s ban on open trans service. Through a letter to Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Attorney General William Barr, 116 lawmakers urged the Department of Defence (DoD) to update its policies, removing the ban in light of the Supreme Court ruling, protecting LGBTQ people from workplace discrimination.

The June 15 Supreme Court decision states that “an individual’s homosexuality or transgender status is not relevant to employment decisions.”

Under the new DoD rules, currently serving trans troops and anyone enlisted by April 12, 2019, can continue with plans for hormone treatments and gender transitions if diagnosed with gender dysphoria, but after that date no one with gender dysphoria taking hormones or has transitioned to another gender was allowed to enlist. 

“This policy is an attack on transgender service members who are risking their lives to serve our country and it should be reversed immediately,” the letter stated.


Lindsey Muller was an Army attack helicopter pilot when she transitioned. She began the process the day theObama administration announced that it would be allowed.

“No one from my unit had an issue over the four or five years since the transition. Not one. Not one person,” she told ‘Military Times’, adding, “It’s one less burden that I had to carry, which in a sense was an unnecessary burden”

Then, in 2017, President Donald Trump tweeted that transgender people would be barred from service.

“It was ethically and morally just absurd,” Muller recalled.

Jennifer Dane, interim executive director of the Modern Military Association of America, the United State’s largest LGBT+ military and veteran nonprofit, said it is crucial to remove the ban, calling it unconstitutional.

“Thousands of transgender service members have already more than proven themselves with honor and distinction, and this discriminatory barrier that has nothing to do with their ability to accomplish the mission must be taken down,” Dane said in a press release.

A DoD-funded study published in February found that approximately two thirds of active duty servicemembers support the idea of serving with transgender personnel.

“All these other countries have had LGBTQ sailors, Marines, soldiers for almost 20 years, and they’ve had no issues. These militaries are strong. They’re our allies,” Kristin Beck, a transformer Navy SEAL said. “We stand right beside our allies and yet we can’t be free in our own country. We can’t have equality.”

Beck, who served with SEAL Team 6, added, “The highest levels of the military — the toughest jobs — I did it. And I’m transgender. So what’s the big deal?”




Read related myGwork articles here:

U.S. Navy Has Granted A Waiver Allowing A Trans Sailor To Serve Openly

Calls Grow For Trans Military Ban To Be Lifted In The U.S.

House of Representatives Votes to End Trump’s Trans Military Ban

Funding for Trump’s Ban on Trans Military Soldiers Stopped by Democrats



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