Duty, Honor, Pride
Life for LGBTQ+ Servicemembers since the Repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’
Since President Obama repealed the "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" policy in 2010, gay and lesbian soldiers were able to openly serve in the military without fear of discharge. One source estimates that around 70,000 gay men and women were members in the U.S. military as of 2018 (De la Garza, 2018). In 2016, the Department of Defense also announced that transgender soldiers could openly serve in the military as well. That meant that the estimated 2,500 to 15,000 active duty soldiers who were transgender did not have to fear a discharge because of their sexual orientation (Steinmetz, 2017).
In a 2017 presidential memorandum, President Trump expressed his desire to reinstate the previous ban on transgender people in the military. The administration used arguments similar to those employed in the "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" period to justify such a ban, stating that transgender servicemembers could ‘’impair unit readiness” and “undermine unit cohesion” (De la Garza, 2018). The Trump Administration’s ban also sought to stop the “use of DoD or DHS resources to fund reassignment surgical procedures for military personnel” that had been offered to transgender soldiers in 2016 (Presidential memorandum).
In a 2017 presidential memorandum, President Trump expressed his desire to reinstate the previous ban on transgender people in the military. The administration used arguments similar to those employed in the "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" period to justify such a ban, stating that transgender servicemembers could ‘’impair unit readiness” and “undermine unit cohesion” (De la Garza, 2018). The Trump Administration’s ban also sought to stop the “use of DoD or DHS resources to fund reassignment surgical procedures for military personnel” that had been offered to transgender soldiers in 2016 (Presidential memorandum).
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However, the RAND Corporation investigated the impact transgender soldiers would have on the military in a 2016 study. The report stated that the transgender troops would be “a small fraction of the total force” as there were only about 1,320 to 6,630 transgender people estimated to be actively serving among the roughly 1.3 million active service troops. It also argued that transgender troops would “have minimal impact on readiness and health care costs” of the U.S. military (RAND Corporation, 2016).
Shortly after the memo was released in 2017, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia blocked the Trump administration’s ban on transgender soldiers. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly explained the court’s decision by stating that “there is absolutely no support for the claim that the ongoing service of transgender people would have any negative effective on the military at all” in the opinion (Steinmetz, 2017). Several other lawsuits in lower courts delayed the ban on transgender people in the military from taking effect until the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision to lift two injunctions that had been blocking the ban was given in January 2019 (Liptak, 2019). |
Carroll, Joanne. Interview by Barry Loveland, 18 November 2016, Lancaster, PA. LGBT Center of Central PA History Project. Archives and Special Collections, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA. (video to come, if needed please contact archives@dickinson.edu). |
