It is no longer about serving your country and defending the Constitution; it has turned into the country serving you and social justice.
Staff Sgt. Patricia King said she was celebrating Friday’s news that the Pentagon will formally open the ranks to transgender troops.
A three-tour veteran of Afghanistan combat who served at Fort Carson until a recent transfer, King embraced her female identity last year as the Pentagon mulled whether a ban on transgender service would stand. King, the first openly transgender service member in the Pikes Peak region, waited out a year of wrangling by the top brass, but was allowed to stay in uniform despite policies that forbid her to serve.
“The second-worst thing you can do to a transgender soldier is to put them in limbo,” King said Friday after learning the Pentagon would reverse transgender policies as soon as July 1. “We were unable to serve openly.”
Pentagon leaders voiced a commitment to change the policy in recent months, and President Barack Obama hinted at the shift during his June 2 graduation speech at the Air Force Academy.
“We live our values when our military, like America itself, truly welcomes the talents of all people,” Obama told cadets.
During a May stop in Colorado Springs, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said leaders had made up their minds on transgender service.
“The question of principle we have settled — what matters is people’s ability to contribute to our military,” he said. “The only barriers we should erect to that principle should be when there are practical matters we can’t work through.”
The Washington Post said Pentagon officials confirmed Friday that the ban will be lifted.
The Pentagon’s decision could be overruled by Congress, but insiders say that’s unlikely.