Democratic U.S. Rep. Gil Cisneros, who serves on the House Armed Services Committee, added that “any policy that prevents transgender people from serving as transgender people — whether through an outright ban or through requirements to serve in one's birth sex — is a ban plain and simple.”.
“While every transgender person has, at some point, lived in their birth sex — as everyone has — the point of gender transition is to live in a different sex,” Cisneros said.
Requiring service in one's birth sex requires a transgender individual to suppress being transgender — echoing the goal of discredited conversion therapy practices.”.
The memo includes a “case-by-case basis waiver” that effectively tells trans service members they can continue to serve if they can prove they have never transitioned and have never lived as their sex at birth for a period of time.
U.S. Army Sergeant First Class Kate Cole, a combat veteran in Afghanistan, said that “removing qualified transgender soldiers like me means an exodus of experienced personnel who fill key positions and can’t be easily replaced, putting the burden on our fellow soldiers left behind.”.
