Both the US Army and the Marine Corps want more time to develop “transgender acceptance policy”
The Army and Marine Corps want to delay implementing a policy to accept transgender applicants to serve, according to a report on Thursday.
The requests come prior to the July 1 deadline given to the services to craft a transgender policy. Last year the Obama administration repealed a ban on allowing openly transgender troops to serve in the military for health reasons. In 2014, an independent commission said that there was “no compelling medical reason” for a trangender ban in the military.
A final decision on the matter has yet to be made by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, according to a report from USA Today.
“The Secretary of Defense directed the military departments to assess their readiness to access transgender applicant into the military,” Army Lt. Col. Myles Caggins told USA Today. “The assessment is narrowly focused on readiness to access transgender applicants, not on gender transition by currently serving Service members.”
Unnamed sources told USA Today that the Army is concerned about the capability of transgender soldiers while they are in their transitional phases. In contrast, the sources said the Navy is ready to apply an acceptance policy for transgender applicants.
