A five-member panel led by former U.S. surgeon general Dr. Joycelyn Elders has concluded that the military should permit transgender people to serve in the military. “We determined not only that there is no compelling medical reason for the ban, but also that the ban itself is an expensive, damaging and unfair barrier to health care access for the approximately 15,450 transgender personnel who serve currently in the active, Guard and reserve components,” stated the report from the commission led by Elders and Rear Adm. Alan Steinman, a former chief health and safety director for the Coast Guard.
The report commission could find no documentation for the outdated beliefs providing the basis for the ban since the 1960s. Another concern about the expense and disruption of medical and surgical treatments were dismissed because of modern medical practices. Former Army lieutenant colonel Jennifer Pritzker, who openly declared herself as transgender last year, contributed $1.3 million to the Palm Center which commissioned the panel’s report. Australia, Canada, England, and Israel are some of the dozen countries allowing transgender military personnel.
The annual cost for transgender surgery in the military was estimated at $30,000 while allowing transgender people to openly serve would reduce suicides and assaults, according to retired Brigadier General Thomas Kolditz, a former Army commander and West Point professor on the commission. The report recommends that the commission recommends the president issue an executive order instructing the Department of Defense to amend its regulations to no longer ban transgender people.
