Dismantling military's transgender ban to begin Monday

Tom Vanden Brook | USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Top Pentagon officials plan to meet Monday to lay out the road map for allowing transgender troops to serve openly in the military, a Defense Department official said Wednesday.

Meantime, on Tuesday, Defense Secretary Ash Carter sent a memo to top military brass and civilians formally outlining his plan that would protect transgender troops from being discharged and directs officials to develop a plan within six months to incorporate those troops into the ranks.

How transgender troops will be housed, what uniforms they'll be permitted to wear and what medical treatments they'll be entitled to will be among the key issues for the Pentagon to resolve, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details of the discussions publicly.

"The working group will start with the assumption that transgender persons can serve openly without adverse impact on military effectiveness and readiness unless and except where objective, practical impediments are identified, and shall present its recommendations to me within 180 days," Carter wrote in his memo.

Earlier this month, Carter announced that decisions on discharging transgender troops, who are barred for medical reasons from serving, would be raised to the top levels of the Defense Department. Each of the services in recent months had made it more difficult for commanders to relieve transgender troops from duty by placing the decision in the hands of a senior civilian.

Effective July 13, transgender troops cannot be discharged or denied re-enlistment unless the top Pentagon official for personnel, Brad Carson, gives his "personal approval," the memo says.

A similar directive was issued before the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell," the Pentagon's policy that had banned gay and lesbian troops from serving openly. It effectively ended the military's discharge of those troops before the ban was rescinded formally in 2011.

Medical benefits will likely be one of the most vexing issues for repealing the ban on transgender troops, the official said. For instance, will a soldier be allowed to deploy to a forward operating base in a war zone while he or she is undergoing hormone therapy?

The military has already taken a small step in determining who pays for such treatment. In February, USA TODAY reported that the Army had approved hormone therapy for Chelsea Manning, the convicted leaker of national security secrets, for transition to a woman at the Army's Fort Leavenworth prison. Manning is both an inmate and a soldier.

In addition, the Department of Veterans Affairs recognizes that transgender men and women can qualify for medical treatment. The VA pays for hormone treatment and counseling for those who qualify.

A report by former U.S. surgeon general Joycelyn Elders, sponsored by a LGBT advocacy group, noted that denying transgender troops hormone treatment is inconsistent with treatment offered to other troops. The report estimates that there are 15,000 transgender troops in the ranks.

The Pentagon does not track how may troops it has discharged for being transgender.