The Defense Department is getting ready to end its ban on transgender service members in a move that would end a year of internal debate about the issue. The repeal could come as early as July 1, according to USA Today. Others, however, are more conservative in their estimates. The Washington Post, for example, hears the exact date of the announcement has not been determined yet but would happen “within weeks” while Reuters reports that the change will be announced sometime in July.
Although the repeal is expected to be immediate, each service would be given as long as a year to implement new policies on things such as recruiting, housing, and uniforms to implement the shift. The move would come five years after the Pentagon ended a ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military and one year after Defense Secretary Ashton Carter set up a working group to study the issue.
Republican Rep. Marc Thornberry, who is the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, has raised questions about the plan that he says have yet to be fully addressed by the Pentagon. “If reports are correct, I believe Secretary Carter has put the political agenda of a departing administration ahead of the military’s readiness crisis,” Thornberry said. The Pentagon says it resonded to all of Thornberry’s concerns back in September.
