On June 30, Defense Secretary Ash Carter stated the military was ending the ban on transgender people being able to serve.
Carter, who had studied the issue of transgender inclusion for almost a year, also said that trans service members will also receive the same medical coverage as any other person serving in the military. Said coverage includes such procedures as gender-reassignment surgery and hormone therapy, if doctors deem them medically necessary.
Reactions from the LGBTA community were swift. Aaron Belkin—founder and executive director of the PALM Center, which promotes the study of LGBT people in the armed forces—said, "With today's historic decision, the U.S. military has taken a sweeping step to advance readiness."
OutServe-SLDN Executive Director Matt Thorn stated, "Transgender service members have been awaiting this announcement for months and years: It has long been overdue. Secretary Carter, with his statement, has given a breath of relief and overdue respect to transgender service members who have been and are currently serving our country with undeniable professionalism, the utmost respect and illustrious courage, with the caveat to do so silently."
Similarly, American Military Partner Association President Ashley Broadway-Mack said, "Words cannot express how much this announcement means to so many of our transgender service members and their families—brave men and women who have proudly served our nation in silence for far too long."
SPARTA, the largest organization of actively serving transgender military members, celebrated the Pentagon's announcement. SPARTA President Sue Fulton said, "The thousands of transgender soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen—and their commanders—have one less burden on their shoulders today. We are grateful to the military and civilian leaders in the Department of Defense who worked so hard to get this right."
However, military-related organizations were not the only ones praising the decision. Selisse Berry, CEO/founder of Out & Equal Workplace Advocates, said, "I am so thrilled that the oldest government agency, the Department of Defense ( DOD ), recognizes the valuable contributions of transgender service members to our country's security and will finally lift the ban on transgender service. Together, we begin a new chapter for the nation and our defense."
And in a separate statement, Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, said the "announcement that the Pentagon will lift the ban on transgender troops is an affirmation of what has always been true: transgender service members are committed to serving and protecting the nation and are best able to do so when they are free from fear of harassment for being who they are."
