Serving in the U.S. Military is a selfless act to serve ones country. Any able bodied American that can meet the physical, emotional, and mental requirements should have the ability to serve in some capacity to include Transgender Americans. In 2011 “don’t ask, don’t tell” act was repealed (Don’t Ask Don’t Tell), thus allowing LGB service members to serve, but what about the T? The repeal left Transgender service members to continue to serve in secrecy or lose their career (Transgender Military Post DADT). Being transgender does not limit ones capacity to perform a job. Despite potential controversies in the workplace, Transgender Americans should be permitted to serve their country as they are equally as capable, and willing to give their lives for their country.
Being Transgender is actually part of an umbrella term that encompasses anyone whom doesn’t identify as their birth gender. Transgender, has until recent years been something not often discussed, many people not personally knowing or having met a transgender person that they know of. It is estimated 700,000 American adults, representing 0.3 percent of the nation’s adult population are transgender (Medical Aspects of Transgender Military Service). Percentage wise this may not seem significant thus explaining why so little is known, however, 700,000 is a significant number of people.
Very few American’s are even capable of serving their country in a military capacity, many barriers whether they are physical or
First, Transgender military troops should serve in the military, because any American who meets current medical and readiness standards should have the right to serve in the military. They got rid of Transgenders in the military, because they don’t want to pay for medical bills when a lot of the Transgenders that serve in the military have already had their surgeries done. For example, There is no reason to force service members who can fight, train, and deploy to leave the military — regardless of their gender identity. If they can do exactly what everyone else can do, they don’t have the right to ban them from serving our country, despise their gender. According to Ada Edelman, “No American, no matter their sexual orientation or gender identity, should be prohibited from honor + privilege of serving our nation #LGBT,’ tweeted Rep.” In addition, The Department of Defense found that health care funds will remain broadly unaffected by allowing Transgender people to serve while health care cost raise will likely be no more than one-tenth of 1 percent. The financial cost of health care for Transgender individuals should not be used as an excuse to deny patriotic Americans an opportunity to serve their country. Overall, Transgender troops should serve in the military if they are capable and are medically stable to.
being a person whose gender identity is opposite the sex the person had or was
Every day, there are American citizens who risk their lives for the sake of their country's safety. Men and women who believe that justice, peace, and equality should be served. However, within their beliefs, some choose to exclude transgender individuals who have the same rights and freedoms. The American society considers the world to be progressively changing and growing, however, seem to forget that in order for the military to survive the 21st century, diversity is crucial. Although the medical costs may raise the overall healthcare median per year, transgender individuals should have the right to serve in the U.S. armed forces because any human being who meets the physical qualifications and has a willing attitude should have the right to serve.
Transgender is a metaphorical umbrella term that covers a person whose self-identification, anatomy, appearance, manner, and/or expression is different from the sex assigned to them at birth and does not fit with societies interpretation for the norm of gender roles. Included in the transgender umbrella are transsexual people, non-binary gender identities, and cross-dressing (LGBT Youth, 2017). Transgender individuals are often the target of discrimination, injustice and social stigma that can lead to negative health outcomes.
Transgendered persons can potentially lose their position in the military. Although other political leaders disagree with president’s trumps proposal. I disagree with the proposed actions that transgenders should be banned from the military, based on material and nonmaterial components. The terms Heterosexism, cultural relativism, feminist and standpoint theory will be used to support my decision.
Banning transgenders from serving in the military contradicts civil liberties. The government would be in violation of that law because it protects the rights of citizens. The U.S. Constitution does state in the first 10 amendments, which is the Bill of rights was designed to protect the citizen’s rights and freedom. Transgenders is a choice, a person’s choice, much like religion. The government has no authority to intervene on a personal free choice as free citizen. Banning transgenders from serving in the military is considered a form of discrimination and violates the Bill of Rights. Power is limited on the government and denies the right to interfere with a citizen’s personal choices.
Kidd and Witten define the term transgender vaguely, stating it “describe[s] people who transcend the conventional boundaries of gender, irrespective of physical status or sexual orientation” (Kidd & Witten, 2007, p. 36). This term is a reference for the ‘other gender’ that is not particularly male or female. Currently, within the American society, there is a growing awareness of individuals who are transgender. Much of this awareness comes from LGBT movements and
In 2016, former president, Barack Obama lifted the ban of transgenders being in the military. Now the question comes up, should transgender be allowed in the military? This is a very “touchy” topic as when discussed in verbal debates, situations can become pretty heated. Recently, current president, Donald Trump reversed the decision and put the ban back on as he made the announcement on Twitter saying, the military does not need to be “burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgenders in the military would entail.” (Caceres). Several members of the military have voiced their opinions on why they think transgenders should be allowed in with no problem.
The Social Work profession adheres to the belief that there is diversity in gender expression; rather than being static, gender expression is fluid and variable among our population. Regardless of gender--including those who are transgender--everyone should be afforded the same respect and rights that all citizens are entitled to--this includes the right to serve openly in the United States military. Discrimination and prejudice aimed at anyone due to their gender identity or gender expression is damaging to the "social, emotional, psychological, physical, and economic well-being of the affected individuals, as well as society as a whole."
The Don’t Ask Don’t tell act which prevented openly gay and lesbians from serving in the United States Armed forces was placed into law on December 21st, 1993. It states that the military cannot discriminate against any gay, lesbian or bisexual person as long as they are discreet about their sexuality. They believed that any persons showing or acting in homosexual behavior would go against strict military moral codes and policy. However on September 20th, 2011 the Don’t ask Don’t Tell was repealed because the government felt it was discriminatory against homosexuals. I agree that openly gay and lesbians should able to serve in the military because nobody should have to hide who they are in order to serve and
The military excludes Transgender individuals from serving because, according to Kayla Quam, “In order to join the military, individuals need to meet the physical and psychological standards listed in the Department of Defense’s Medical Standard for Appointment, Enlistment, or Introduction in the Military Services (‘DoDI 613.03’)” (721). Because of physical and mental exams many transgender individuals choose to keep their abnormalities a secret, forcing them to live a double life. Many are disqualified because of mental and false health issues. For example, “Transgender [people] who have undergone sex-reassignment surgery are disqualified under a medical regulation during the physical exam,” and Transgender individuals who have not undergone “sex-reassignment surgery but identify as transgender are disqualified under the psychological examination” (Ross 190). The military deems Transgender individuals as unfit to serve, but approximately 15,500 transgender individuals are serving in the military and there are 134,200 transgender veterans (Gate and Herman 1). Proving that transgender individuals have served in the military successfully, playing against all odds the military is in fact wrong to classify transgender individuals as unfit to serve.
Many may wonder what being a transgender person really is, a lot of people may see or refer to it as someone who has gone gender transformation, or is confused with who they are. The word transvestite is very much used when referring to a person who identifies with the opposite gender, the word 'Transvestite' itself originated in 1910 by the well known German sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld, who also founded the Berlin institute which was where the first 'sex change' surgeries took place. 'Transsexual' was not used until 1949, the word 'transgender' not until 1971, and 'trans not until 1996, but they all refer to the same thing. The idea of being transgender goes as far back as 1503 BC to the Egyptians. It was believed that their second
Transgender is a human who does not identify with the sex that they were assigned at birth. Transgender is often shortened to trans to make it easier to say and convey what they mean easier. Transgender is an umbrella term to encompass many identities. There are many other identities that go along with being transgender like trans man or women, trans demiboy or demigirl, trans nonbinary, and many others. The thing that makes you transgender is if you self identify with being transgender than you are transgender. There are many words at this moment that are used against trans people and some of those words are tranny, transgendered, transexual, shemale, and many others. These words are used against trans people to spread hate in this world. Many trans
The population of gender minorities in the United States is difficult to define and report. Most population polls and research on gender minorities report on the percentages of transgender individuals. Two recent studies found that those who identify as transgender in the U.S. range from 1 to 1.4 million people, which is roughly 0.3% of the U.S. population (Boskey, 2014; Meerwijk & Sevelius, 2017). However, those numbers do not include the full range of individuals who consider themselves gender minorities; including, but not limited to, gender non-conforming, genderqueer, and genderfluid. Even accounting for those on the continuum of gender expression, the percentage of gender minorities is likely less than 1% of the total U.S. population. While that is a small percentage of the country’s population, it reflects roughly 1.5 million Americans.
When someone calls themself transgender, it means that they do not identify with the gender they were assigned at birth. For example, someone who was born as a man may later realize that they are in fact a woman; this person would be called a trans woman. There is much debate over transgenderism and, specifically, whether society should treat transgenders as their biological sex or their gender identity. For example, if a transgender man (biological sex being female) wants to use the men’s restroom, should he be able to? The laws that would allow this are known as transgender inclusion laws, and the debate over passing such laws has always been extremely heated. Transgender inclusion laws should be passed in all areas, as there has been no increase in crime rates as a result of transgender use of public facilities, transgenderism is absolutely real and should be recognized as such, and these laws only brings benefits for any trans-friendly environments.