Pentagon strengthens military by dropping transgender ban

It came not as a surprise but as a realistic, welcome step for the U.S. armed forces. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter repealed the Pentagon’s ban on transgender people serving in the military, and his words rang with common sense.

“We have to have access to 100 percent of America’s population for our all-volunteer forces to be able to recruit from among them the most highly qualified – and to retain them.”

The turbulence some predicted when President Obama ended the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that prohibited gay people in service from being open about their sexuality and the end of the rule barring women from serving in ground combat didn’t really happen. And in the wake of Carter’s announcement regarding the service of transgender people, there seemed to be little reaction on Capitol Hill.

Even the most conservative lawmakers, many of them at least, seem to be realizing that the presence of transgender citizens and those who are gay and lesbian can no longer be demagogued – at least, not in mainstream America.

Sadly, North Carolina’s HB2 stands as a monument to resistance to reason, and the Pentagon’s opening the door to transgender service, coming within 24 hours of a Mississippi federal judge’s ruling on a Mississippi HB2-like law (see above) is yet another advancement in clear and enlightened policymaking. If only it could happen here.

This story was originally published July 4, 2016 at 6:00 PM with the headline "Pentagon strengthens military by dropping transgender ban."