Transgender Military Personnel
Transgender rights and issues are a prominent part of the LGBTQ human rights movement. This is particularly so in military services around the world. Most countries continue to have an outright ban on transgender military personnel. Eighteen nations, including Australia, Canada, Israel, and Great Britain, allow military service by transgender individuals.
However, an increasing number of transgender military personnel are choosing to open up. In 2014, the first international conference on the subject was held and received significant global media coverage. The conference, held in Washington D.C. and hosted by the American Civil Liberties Union, was titled 'Perspectives on Transgender Military Service from Around the Globe'.
The U.S. Army recently relaxed its regulations on transgender military personnel, making it harder to remove such troops from service by assigning responsibility to a senior civilian official. This follows from the military's dismantlement of the 'don't ask don't tell' policy.
According to a Williams Institute 2014 study, an estimated 15,500 transgender individuals currently serve in the U.S. military with 60% being male and 40% female. Nevertheless, an outright ban remains in place.
There remains a distinct disconnect between acceptance and policy on the issue today. There is no compelling medical reason for the banning of transgender individuals from serving given current modern medical procedures. Rather, any ban is itself a damaging and unfair policy. Allowing transgender individuals to serve would actually reduce incidences of gender harassment, assaults, and suicides.
We have identified a number of high-profile transgender members of the military from around the world:
- Kristin Beck, United States
- Donna Harding, Australia
- Ayla Holdum, Great Britain
- Catherine Humphries, Australia
- Lucy Jordan, New Zealand
- Alexandra Larsson, Sweden
- Chelsea Manning, United States
- Natalie Murray, Sweden
- Caroline R. Paige, Great Britain
- Jennifer Pritzker, United States
- Shawn Skelly, United States
- Evan Young, United States
- Sarah Weston, United States
- Hannah Winterbourne, Great Britain
Further Reading/Research
- http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/Transgender-Military-Service-May-2014.pdf
- http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/transgender-military-members-are-in-a-precarious-position/2014/10/27/38204fd6-5870-11e4-b812-38518ae74c67_story.html
- https://www.aclu.org/perspectives-transgender-military-service-around-globe
