Pentagon moves toward lifting ban on transgender troops/LAT

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

Who would have ever thought...

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-transgender-troops-20150713-story.html

The Pentagon took a significant step Monday toward lifting its ban on allowing transgender men and women to serve in the military, announcing a six-month study designed to clear the way.

The study will "start with the presumption that transgender persons can serve openly without adverse impact on military effectiveness and readiness, unless and except where objective, practical impediments are identified," Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter said in a statement announcing the move.

"We must ensure that everyone who's able and willing to serve has the full and equal opportunity to do so, and we must treat all our people with the dignity and respect they deserve," he added.

The Pentagon does not have a precise count of how many transgender men and women are in the services now, since they face discharge if they reveal their identities. The Palm Center, a research institute based in San Francisco, estimates there are about 15,500 transgender members of the U.S. military, “making the Department of Defense the largest employer of transgender people in America.”

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. I love the sound of popping Fundy heads...any time of day.

[951-Riverside]

2. We need to lift those stupid physical requirements too

We're sending young people to die, who cares if they're fit or not and what good are 31 pushups and a two mile run in 17 mins going to do if your legs get blown off by an IED?

I say if you can shoot a gun and follow orders without question, you're in. The rest is just useless bull.

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

3. Good.

The only impediment for the transgender person ("except where objective, practical impediments are identified&quot might be in lengthy deployments where access to hormones are not readily available, and that kind of service is probably rare. Otherwise, they are serving like everyone else.