<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div>Welcome to the 21st century, America.</div><div><br></div><div>Courtesy of the Army Times.</div><div><br></div><div>--------------------------------------</div><div> </div><div><b style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Transgender troops can serve in uniform</b></div><div><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="text-align: justify; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="text-align: justify; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A change to a Pentagon personnel policy three months ago loosens the rules barring transgender troops from serving in the U.S. military, giving the individual services leeway to retain these personnel, according to legal and military experts with the Palm Center, a San Francisco-based think tank focused on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender military service.</span></div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="abody" style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: start;"><br></div><div style="text-align: start;">The update — to Defense Department Instruction 1332.18, Disability Evaluation System — provides a loophole for the services to let transgender troops serve instead of requiring administrative separation, the Palm Center says.</div><div style="text-align: start;"><br></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span class="abody">The old policy listed transgender</span><span class="abody"> identity as a “congenital or developmental defect” that mandated administrative separation.</span></div></span><span class="abody" style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: start;"><br></div><div style="text-align: start;">The instruction issued Aug. 5 drops that provision, which the activists, including three retired f lag or general officers, representatives from the ACLU, the Transgender American Veterans Association and others, say means the services now can discharge individuals with perceived defects only if those defects interfere with their performance or duty assignment.</div><div style="text-align: start;"><br></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span class="abody">“By this new regulation, the Pentagon has gotten out of the business of deciding when service members are fit or unfit for duty, andthat’sabigpolicychange,”said Diane Mazur, an Air Force veteran and professor of law emeritus at</span><span class="abody"> the University of Florida College of Law.</span></div></span><span class="abody" style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: start;"><br></div><div style="text-align: start;">The change, which dropped an entire list of disqualifying conditions from the DoD instruction, places the onus on the services to update their policies, now based on “a list that no longer exists,” Mazur said.</div><div style="text-align: start;"><br></div><div style="text-align: start;">Pentagon spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Nate Christensen said Nov. 24 the change to the instruction does not mean the Pentagon has altered its policy prohibiting service by transgender individuals.</div><div style="text-align: start;"><br></div><div style="text-align: start;">He said the policy update included examples of nonphysical disability medical conditions, which the department determined were inappropriate for a physical disability policy.</div><div style="text-align: start;"><br></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span class="abody">“It was not an all-encompassing</span><span class="abody"> list. ... The deletion of that enclosure does not change or have any effect on the department’s policy regarding separations and consequently does not affect the department’s policy regarding military service by transgender individuals,” Christensen said.</span></div></span><span class="abody" style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: start;"><br></div><div style="text-align: start;">Other examples of conditions listed as disqualifying in the old instruction included mental retardation, homosexuality, unsanitary habits including repeated venereal disease infections and phobic fear of air, sea and submarine modes of transportation.</div><div style="text-align: start;"><br></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span class="abody">The landmark repeal of the "don’t ask don’t tell” policy in 2011 allowed gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military. But bottom line, DoD accession policy bars transgender individuals from enlisting or being</span><span class="abody"> commissioned in the military.</span></div></span><span class="abody" style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: start;"><br></div><div style="text-align: start;">A March 2014 report from the Transgender Military Service Commission estimates that nearly 15,500 transgender individuals serve in uniform across all branches.</div><div style="text-align: start;"><br></div><div style="text-align: start;">Retired Army Lt. Gen. Claudia Kennedy, retired Army Maj. Gen. Vance Coleman, retired Rear Adm. James Barnett, retired Senior Chief Special Warfare Operator (SEAL) Kristin Beck, retired Army 1st Sgt. Dayna Walker and others said the services should comply with the DoD regulations by removing transgender identity as a disqualifying condition in their own policies.</div><div style="text-align: start;"><br></div><div style="text-align: start;">At least 18 countries allow transgender individuals to serve openly in their armed forces, according to the Palm Center.</div><div style="text-align: start;"><br></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span class="abody">“We’re closer to transgender service</span><span class="abody"> than we’ve ever been,” Mazur</span></div></span></span></div><div>--------------------------------------<br><br><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)</span></div><div><a href="http://www.moscowcares.com/" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font color="#000000">http://www.MoscowCares.com</font></a></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></div><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tom Hansen</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Moscow, Idaho</span></div></div><div> </div></div></div></div></body></html>