Gay military service personnel may now serve openly, and now former top Pentagon officials believe that another group should be afforded the same treatment: transgendered Americans.
A report issued Tuesday by retired Maj. Gen. Gale S. Pollock, former acting surgeon general of the Army; Brig. Gen. Clara Adams-Ender, former chief of the U.S. Army Nurse Corps; and Brig. Gen. Thomas A. Kolditz, a Yale University professor and professor emeritus at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, opened the door for ending a de-facto “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy for transgendered individuals, the Washington Examiner reported
“Our conclusion is that allowing transgender personnel to serve openly is administratively feasible and will not be burdensome or complicated. Three months have passed since Defense Secretary Hagel announced a willingness to review the military’s ban on transgender service, an effort the White House indicated it supports,” the 29-page report said.
There are an estimated 15,500 transgendered individuals serving in the U.S. armed forces.
In May of 2014, a White House official responded to Mr. Hagel’s willingness to review the issue by saying, “While the timing of any future policy revision is unknown, the U.S. armed forces likely will, at some point, join the 18 foreign nations and NATO allies that allow transgender personnel to serve openly,” the Examiner reported.