The U.S. military is poised to remove the final roadblock to service based on gender or sexual orientation — a moment that supporters call a victory for civil rights and critics call political correctness run amok in a dangerous way.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis faces a July 1 deadline to open the door to transgender recruits and new officers.

Policy set during the Obama administration established that deadline for the services to get ready to accept transgender newcomers. During then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter’s tenure, the Pentagon in June 2016 lifted the ban on transgender troops who were already serving.

But there are signs the military’s social-change momentum that started during the presidency of Barack Obama could be hitting resistance under a new president.


The Army and Marine Corps have reportedly asked the Pentagon to delay the decision on transgender recruits for up to two years, according to anonymous sources quoted by USA Today on Thursday.

Those two services apparently believe they don’t have enough data to make a decision on admitting more transgender troops and have expressed concern about the inability to deploy troops who are undergoing gender-transition treatment.

Conservative activists are calling for Mattis to reverse course altogether on allowing transgender people to serve. They are calling it the “most problematic policy” among “politically correct social agendas” left over from the previous White House administration.

A public memo from the Conservative Action Project last month asked Mattis to “suspend and, upon further careful study, rescind Defense Department and military service directives permitting transgender individuals to serve.” It was signed by 85 prominent conservatives, including more than two dozen retired admirals and generals.


Meanwhile, LGBT advocates said Mattis is on the record saying that he isn’t out to change policy that was already determined.

“I think there’s concern in the community,” said Aaron Belkin, a San Francisco State political science professor who is director of the Palm Center, a public policy think tank that studies lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues.

“But I also think it’s pretty clear that social conservatives are trying to game the media with a sense that there’s a decision that needs to be made, and that policy hasn’t been established. And that there’s a problem, where there actually is no problem. Transgender troops have been serving loyally for a year,” he added, after the news that the Army and Marine Corps might seek delays. “If the Pentagon requires transgender applicants to lie to get into the military, this will be ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ 2.0.”

The Palm Center issued its own letter on Wednesday from three former Army generals arguing that military readiness hasn’t been affected during the past year.


“The research leaves no rationale besides personal bias or politics for delaying or reversing full transgender inclusion,” said the letter signed by the three retired generals — Claudia J. Kennedy, Gale S. Pollock and Clara Adams-Ender.

Between 6,000 and 14,000 transgender people are currently serving in uniform, out of a total of 1.3 million active-duty troops. Estimates are sparse on how many are waiting to join the armed forces, but it could be hundreds per year, one expert said.

Two transgender cadets — one at the Air Force Academy and one at West Point — were reportedly allowed to graduate in May but have been denied an officer’s commission due to the Pentagon’s policy being unresolved.

Nineteen other nations allow open service of transgender troops, including the United Kingdom, Israel, Australia and Canada.


A Mattis deputy, Robert Work, issued a memo directing the branches to provide their assessments by May 31. A Pentagon spokesman last week wouldn’t say when the Defense Department will issue a decision.

Mattis has directed the services to “assess their readiness to access transgender applicants” into the military, Lt. Col. Myles Caggins said in an email to The San Diego Union-Tribune.

“The assessment is narrowly focused on readiness to access transgender applicants, not on gender transition by currently serving service members,” he said.

President Donald Trump is seen as something of a wild card on this issue.


During the presidential campaign, Trump voiced support for the LGBT community and, 11 days after taking office, issued a statement that he is “determined to protect the rights of all Americans, including the LGBTQ community.”

However, news reports said the White House began removing LGBT information from its website. And, in February, the Trump administration revoked federal guidelines that gave transgender students the right to use public school restrooms matching their gender identity, an Obama-era policy.

Trump also has not issued a Pride Month proclamation for June, unlike his predecessor.

To Elaine Donnelly, that’s a good sign. She and some other conservatives have called on the Pentagon to stop celebrating LGBT Pride month, saying it is political at heart.


Donnelly is president of the Center For Military Readiness, a group that fought the end of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy toward gays in uniform in 2011 and warned against opening direct combat positions to women in 2015.

Her argument, like that of other critics of those policies, is that the military is no place for social experimentation if it takes away from military readiness.

On Tuesday, she sent out an email asking if it was a “firing offense” for a Pentagon undersecretary who issued a June 2 memo announcing and endorsing Pride month activities around the Defense Department.

“Do holdover officials in positions such as this have authority to implement or celebrate the previous administration’s policies, even if President Trump has not authorized them?” Donnelly asked in the email. “If this is not a firing offense, are President Obama and Ashton Carter still making policy at the Pentagon?”


Donnelly told the Union-Tribune that she is optimistic about change under Trump and Mattis.

“I still have hope that the secretary of defense will do the right thing,” Donnelly said. “The first thing he needs to do is insist on candid information with no penalties, no retaliation for people being frank.”

Since October, the U.S. military has issued training handbooks about how to address any issues surrounding transgender troops.

Military hospitals were advised that they should provide all medically necessary care related to gender transition.


As for new recruits, Obama-era policy anticipated accepting transgender applicants who meet the same physical and mental fitness standards as everyone else.

Those prospects would be required to have finished any medical treatment their doctor deemed necessary in connection with their gender transition.

Also, they must be stable in their preferred gender for 18 months, as certified by their doctor.

jen.steele@sduniontribune.com


Facebook: U-T Military

Twitter: @jensteeley


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jen.steele@sduniontribune.com

Facebook: U-T Military

Twitter: @jensteeley