One policy that I chose to talk about was the Transgender Policy in the Military. It says in the first few bullet points on the first page that “transgenders may serve openly”. In the An Implementation Handbook it states,“The Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard need to avail themselves of all available talent in order to remain the finest fighting force the world has ever known. Secretary Carter further explains, “we don’t want barriers unrelated to a person’s qualification to serve preventing us from recruiting and retaining the soldier, sailor, airman, or Marine who can best accomplish the mission.” So from reading that my understanding is, they do not want the barrier of someone being transgender- if this person can do the job the best, then they are the person for the job. The military is doing this to gain more people in the military branches and keep the members they have. The military does have a few policy/ bullet points that the transgender people need to follow as well as other members too. Including, “Any medical care and treatment provided to an individual Service member in the process of gender transition will be provided in the same manner as other medical care and treatment.” I think that this is a step in the right direction from taking people who are transgender and bullying them and giving them an equal option for medical help.
Another bullet point that they mention is, “Our initial accession policy will require an individual to have completed any medical treatment that their doctor has determined is necessary in connection with their gender transition, and to have been stable in their preferred gender for 18 months, as certified by their doctor, before they can enter the military.” I just find this bullet point interesting. To me, it sounds like they are saying that the person has to fully transition before entering the military. Which, makes sense since that is something personal, can take a while, and would (may) not be good done learning how to fight other people. But again, I feel like this is a step in the right direction to include the transgender community instead of pushing them out- the military is saying Yes, come join us, just be stable- emotionally, mentally, physically.
A few other bullet points where I feel like the military is going in the right direction is when they have these listed in their policy. “...in the preferred gender and will use berthing, bathroom, and shower facilities associated with their gender. As well as this bullet point is a big one, “Any discrimination against a Service member based on their gender identity is sex discrimination and may be addressed through the Department’s equal opportunity channels”. They are letting them use the bathroom that they identify with, which has been a problem and still is one, for some. So having this in the handbook, the military is showing great support and understanding to the people who are amazing at protecting their country and amazing at doing their jobs, but just identify with a different sex.
So, I personally feel that transgenders are usually being picked on and harassed. I have watched a few shows where people are just mean to the people transitioning- leaving death messages, bullying verbally, and emotionally. So i think that this policy is showing equity. The military is saying you can transition, change genders, it’s all okay, just let us know. We want to be there for the service members. So having this policy and changes to the policy is making it even better for the ones who are serving or want to be serving. In a way it is calling them out, however, it is helping them get in the military, stay, and even use the correct pronouns, bathrooms and if any issues there is a connection for that too. So i think this is a policy that is being equal to everyone.
https://www.defense.gov/News/Special-Reports/0616_transgender-policy/
- there are other links on this page that I looked at too. They are located underneath the first couple of bullet points.
When you mentioned that the person has to be in the preferred gender for 18 months, that kind of shocked me, because yes, it could take awhile for people to transition, but by having this rule, that recognizes that the Military does discriminate against transgender. And, I've just never encountered that kind of statement before so that's also what threw me off.
ReplyDeleteYou raise an interesting point about having a stable gender identity--we haven't talked about this much, but transgender folks have many different ways of living in their gender identity, which may include some medical interventions and may not. So it's interesting to think about what they mean in this policy.
ReplyDeleteA few other classmates have pointed out recent challenges to these policies by the current administration--why do you think they challenge the military's current approach?