Pentagon plans to allow transgender people in the military

The Department of Defense plans to incorporate transgender people in the U.S. military following a six-month study on possible ramifications and needed accommodations.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter said in a statement Monday the military will go forward with the presumption that “transgender persons can serve openly without adverse impact on military effectiveness and readiness,” unless, after the six-month period, practical impediments are identified.

Carter’s undersecretary Brad Carson will lead an investigation reviewing the ban on transgender people serving in the military. Areas of concern include where to house transgender people, what uniforms they will wear, and whether their presence will negatively impact the performance of smaller units.

Retired Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin, who now serves as the Family Research Council’s executive vice president, said the move shows the Department of Defense’s lack of proper priorities. “This has everything to do with President Obama’s social agenda for the military, but it has nothing to do with enhancing military readiness,” Boykin said.

A spokesman for Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said the Senate Armed Services Committee chairman will closely follow the review process. Questions remain about whether the military will provide help with the medical costs of surgeries or treatment for gender transition.

Carter’s statement follows a gradual transition in how the military addresses transgender people. According to current policy, the military defines a transgender people as those who do not identify with their birth gender or are taking hormone treatment or receiving surgery to develop characteristics contrary to their anatomy. Any member of the active military or reserves suspected of being transgender is subject to immediate dismissal. But in recent months, senior military officials have slowed the dismissal process by reviewing each case individually.

An estimated 15,000 transgender people serve in the military, either in secret or with the consent of their peers and commanders.

“The brave men and women who serve in our military should not be excluded from the rights and freedoms that they risk their lives to protect,” said Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee.

Boykin and others opposed to the change claim allowing transgender people in the military will detract from troops’ ultimate goal of defending America from outside threats. “Allowing the Obama administration to use the military as a tool of social re-engineering will only undermine morale, unit cohesion, and readiness,” Boykin said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.