Before hand military used to be really strict about the LBGT community. They had the don't asked don't tell law which prohibited a lot of gays/lesbians from revealing who they were. there were plenty of stories that I heard of military men especially being beaten or harassed even if they were suspected of liking the same sex. Which this is why this is good news that the military has eased up the policy on transgender soldiers int he army. The previous policy allowed for the re movement of transgender soldiers out of the army if found out. If they were found out they were automatically dismissed from service on medical ground that were not identified. The decision to discharged transgender ed soldier was made my the assistant secretary of army personnel. "Assigning responsibility for discharge decisions to a senior official would be a welcome step toward inclusive policy, but transgender troops will still have to serve in silence until more is done to dismantle the ban," said Aaron Belkin, director of the Palm Center, which has published research on sexual orientation issues in the military. So what he was saying that they can no longer kick them out of the military but they still must not tell until more laws can be broken down and removed in order for them to be safe and comfortable in the military. The Army's decision echoes the military's dismantlement of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which allowed gays and lesbians to serve unless their sexuality was discovered. Before the policy was rescinded in 2011, the decision to discharge gay troops had been raised to the Pentagon's top lawyer and personnel official and service secretaries. In effect, that requirement functioned as a moratorium, as no further dismissals were sought under "don't ask, don't tell." as I stated before a lot of the dimissal were under " medical reasons" supposedly that were not stated. The Army memo is the latest move toward changing the Pentagon's policy toward transgender troops. Last week, the Army, for the first time decided to allow allow hormone treatment for Chelsea Manning, a transgender soldier convicted of divulging national security secrets to WikiLeaks. Manning, previously known as Bradley, is serving a 35-year sentence at the Fort Leavenworth, Kan., military prison.
Tabitha McLaughlin, 11:00 am, February 18, 2015
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/02/16/trangender-troops-chelsea-manning/23504073/
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