Transgender In The Military Essay

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Abstract
This paper goes covers the history of different races and genders that were once excluded from entry into the military. These groups of people were denied entry based off racism and sexism in most cases. Transgender people have been historically excluded from military service due to enlistment mental health exclusions. Now that transgender people are allowed in the military many current regulations will have to bend to conform to the requirements of transgender service members. This paper goes over mental diagnoses of transgender people and how that relates to the DOD enlistment requirements for transgender people. Some other challenges that are discussed are how many transgender service members will have unfair advantages and …show more content…

40% of all transgender people will attempt suicide at least once in their lifetime. (Appendix A) (Center for Disease Control, 2016) Unlike previously stated identifiers, transgender people do not share the same inherent mental stability, transgender people are medically diagnosed with a mental disorder called gender dysphoria. (Okoye, 2018) Depressive disorders are currently a precluding factor for enlistment into the military. Gender dysphoria falls into this category. (Department of Defense, 2012) Allowing transgender to serve in the U.S. military requires the DOD to readjust the policy for entrance in the armed services with preexisting mental health conditions. Never before has the U.S. military opened its doors for enlistment exclusively for those suffering from a specific mental disorder. The DOD transgender handbook, published for armed forces integration training, fails to mention mental disorder condition associated with transgender people. Instead the transgender people’s service is listed as a mental diagnosis military handbook. (Defense, 2016) While gender dysphoria is a medical diagnosis the handbook left out the fact it also falls into a mental disorder category. The difference between a diagnosis and a disorder is the medical providers approach and requirement of medical care. The way the handbook is written suggests that gender dysphoria is a harmless

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