Transgender personnel in the United States military

Transgender personnel in the United States military have been allowed to serve openly since June 30, 2016. On August 25, 2017, President Donald Trump signed the Presidential Memorandum for the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security. On October 30, 2017, in the case of Jane Doe v. Trump, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly granted the plaintiffs a preliminary injunction on the provisions of the memorandum prohibiting open military service and enlistment of transgender people. On November 21, 2017, in the case of Stone v. Trump, Judge Marvin J. Garbis granted the planintiffs a preliminary injunction on the entire Presidential Memorandum for the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security Also that day, the United States Department of Justice appealed the preliminary injunction in the case of Jane Doe v. Trump. The Pentagon's six-month delay on accession of transgender individuals into military service expires January 1, 2018.

Pre-ban
Albert Cashier, born Jennie Irene Hodgers, enlisted and served in the Union Army as a man during the American Civil War and maintained his male identity for the remainder of his life. Although there had been numerous instances of strategic disguise during the Civil War and earlier, Cashier was unique in maintaining his identity after the war. The first transgender American woman to undergo gender confirmation surgery (in 1952) was Christine Jorgensen, who had previously been drafted into the United States Army to serve during World War II. The surgery made front-page news with headlines such as "Ex-GI Becomes Blonde Beauty" (from the New York Daily News focusing on her prior military service.

Ban on transgender personnel
The United States military banned service members with gender issues in the early 1960s. On May 17, 1963, Army Regulation 40–501 at ¶ 6–32(b) prohibited individals from the United States military with "behavior disorders[] as evidenced by … transvestism". By the 1980s, the United States military was applying its medical regulations more forcefully against people who identified as transgender.

Presidency of Barack Obama
Under the current Department of Defense Instruction 6130.03, "Medical Standards for Appointment, Enlistment, or Induction in the Military Services" dated 2 July 2012, candidates for military service shall not have "[c]urrent or history of psychosexual conditions, including but not limited to transsexualism, exhibitionism, transvestism, voyeurism, and other paraphilias" which is noted as "not a contradiction of the repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'" since homosexuality was removed from the list of psychosexual conditions in DSM in 1973.

Sage Fox enlisted in 1993 and transitioned to the reserves in 2012. While listed as individual ready reserve, she began her gender transition. In 2013, she was reactivated, and she told her commanding officer she would return as a woman. Although her CO supported the move and she returned to active duty, making her the first transgender service member in active service, she was inactivated two weeks later. Fox felt the inactivation was solely due to her transgender status.

Palm Center panel
On March 13, 2014, an advisory panel organized by the Palm Center, a research institute based at San Francisco State University, released a report that found no compelling medical reason for placing limitations on military service by transgender individuals. It said DoD rules that prevented enlistment or continued service by transgender individuals were based on outmoded and untenable ideas about their psychological and physical fitness, and it dismissed concerns about the costs of medical care. It said the DoD's policies could be changed by an executive order. The panel was headed by former Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders and Rear Adm. Alan Steinman, a former chief health and safety director for the Coast Guard. It concluded: "We determined not only that there is no compelling medical reason for the ban, but also that the ban itself is an expensive, damaging and unfair barrier to health care access for the approximately 15,450 transgender personnel who serve currently in the active, Guard and reserve components. Medical regulations requiring the discharge of transgender personnel are inconsistent with how the military regulates all other medical and psychological conditions, and transgender-related conditions appear to be the only gender-related conditions that require discharge irrespective of fitness for duty."

At the time, service personnel were still being dismissed for being transgender despite their objective job performance. The dismissal policy was based on outdated medical diagnoses which suggested gender nonconformity was a mental illness. In May 2014, Secretary of Defense Hagel said his department's policy with respect to transgender service should be reviewed "continually". Later in May, the ban on Medicare coverage for gender reassignment surgery, which had been in place since 1981, was lifted in response to a lawsuit filed in 2013 on behalf of Denee Mallon, a 74-year-old transgender Army veteran. With the end of the ban on openly gay service members, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James stated the ban on transgender personnel "is likely to come under review in the next year or so" in a December interview.

Also in May 2014, the Williams Institute published a research brief estimating 15,500 transgender people were serving on active duty or in the Guard/Reserves, and an additional 134,300 transgender people were either veterans or retired from the Guard/Reserves. The brief was based on a six-month survey of over 6,000 transgender people in 2008–09 asking (in part) if they had ever served in the armed forces, or had been denied entry because they were transgender.

Policy of Secretary Carter
In February 2015, during his first trip as United States Secretary of Defense, Dr. Ash Carter was asked about the service of transgender troops, to which he replied:

"... we want to make our conditions and experience of service as attractive as possible to our best people in our country. And I'm very open-minded about [it] — otherwise about what their personal lives and proclivities are, provided they can do what we need them to do for us. That's the important criteria. Are they going to be excellent service members? And I don't think anything but their suitability for service should preclude them."

- Dr. Ashton Carter, 25th Secretary of Defense

Days later, the White House echoed Secretary Carter's support of transgender service personnel. Starting in March 2015, the Army, Air Force, and Navy issued directives protecting transgender soldiers from dismissal. The Army issued a directive that protected transgender soldiers from being dismissed by mid-level officers by requiring the decision for discharge to be made by the service's top civilian for personnel matters. The Air Force stated that for enlisted airmen, there was no outright grounds for discharge for anyone with gender dysphoria or who identified as transgender, and that a person would only be subject to eviction from the Air Force if his or her condition interfered with their potential deployment or performance on active duty. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus signed a memorandum directed to the chief of Naval operations and commandant of the Marine Corps stating: “Effective immediately, separations initiated under the provisions of the reference for service members with a diagnosis or history of gender dysphoria, who identify themselves as transgender, or who have taken steps to externalize the condition, must be forwarded to the assistant secretary of the Navy (manpower and reserve affairs) for decision.”

In the wake of these directives, in July 2015, Secretary Carter ordered the creation of a Pentagon working group "to study over the next six months the policy and readiness implications of welcoming transgender persons to serve openly." He also stated that all decisions to dismiss troops with gender dysphoria would be handled by the Pentagon's acting Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, Brad Carson. Carson would later resign his position in April 2016 following a February 2016 Senate confirmation hearing where he clashed publicly with Sens. Jim Inhofe [R-OK] and John McCain [R-AZ], but he delivered an implementation plan to allow open service by transgender people for Secretary Carter's review as one of his final accomplishments as acting Undersecretary. Although the working group had a January 2016 deadline to finish evaluating the change, there still was no official policy in place by May 2016, and the Pentagon's acting personnel chief stated it would take "months, but not large numbers of months" to finalize transgender military service policy details.

The American Medical Association approved a resolution opposing the ban on openly transgender troops in June 2015. "Transgender Members of the U.S. Military" were listed as one of the nine runners-up for Person of the Year by The Advocate in November 2015.

The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness asked the RAND National Defense Research Institute to study the implications of transgender service members, including identifying the health care needs of transgender service members, the effect on troop readiness, and the experience of the foreign military forces which allow transgender members to serve openly. RAND estimated in a report published June 2016 that 2,450 active-duty and 1,510 reserve personnel were transgender. Based on the percentage of transgender people seeking gender transition-related medical treatment using private health insurance, RAND further estimated that 29 to 129 active-duty service members would seek transition-related health care benefits per year, increasing military health system costs by 0.13% of the $6 billion military health system annual budget, at a total annual estimated cost of $2.4 to $8.4 million. Readiness was estimated at a decrease of 0.0015% of total available labor-years due to recuperation, and unit cohesion was determined to be minimally affected. The RAND study focused on the service history of transgender personnel in Australia, Canada, Israel, and the United Kingdom, concluding that "in no case was there any evidence of an effect on the operational effectiveness, operational readiness, or cohesion of the force." RAND concluded that calling for "strong leadership support", providing diversity-related "education and training to the entire force", and developing and enforcing "a clear anti-harassment policy" were key best practices. The report had been completed in March 2016, and transgender advocates had accused Secretary Carter of delaying its release because it found there were few obstacles to allowing transgender troops to serve openly. A copy of the RAND report was leaked to and published by The New York Times in May 2016. The RAND cost estimate agreed with an earlier study by Dr. Aaron Belkin, who estimated the annual cost of transition-related care would be $5.6 million. On May 23, 2016, the Department of Defense observed the first LGBT Pride Month with openly transgender service members.

End of the ban
"[...] Americans who want to serve and can meet our standards should be afforded the opportunity to compete to do so. After all, our all-volunteer force is built upon having the most qualified Americans. And the profession of arms is based on honor and trust. Army Chief of Staff General Milley recently reminded us of this, when he said, and I quote him, “The United States Army is open to all Americans who meet the standard, regardless of who they are.  Embedded within our Constitution is that very principle, that all Americans are free and equal.  And we as an Army are sworn to protect and defend that very principle.  And we are sworn to even die for that principle.  So if we in uniform are willing to die for that principle, then we in uniform should be willing to live by that principle.”  That’s General Milley."

- Dr. Ashton Carter

On June 30, 2016, Secretary Ash Carter made an official announcement and published Directive-Type Memo 16-005 (DTM 16-005), declaring:
 * Effective immediately:
 * [N]o otherwise qualified Service member may be involuntarily separated, discharged or denied reenlistment or continuation of service, solely on the basis of their gender identity.
 * It is the Department’s position, consistent with the U.S. Attorney General’s opinion, that discrimination based on gender identity is a form of sex discrimination.
 * By October 1, 2016:
 * A training handbook will be developed and published for transgender Service members, commanders, the force, and medical professionals. In addition, guidance will be published for medical care and treatment of transgender Service members.
 * Transgender Service members will be allowed to transition gender while serving in accordance with Department of Defense Instruction 1300.28 (also published on June 30).
 * "The Military Health System will be required to provide transgender Service members with all medically necessary care related to gender transition, based on the guidance that is issued."
 * By November 1, 2016:
 * Implementing guidance and a training and education plan will be issued by each branch of the military, including a scheduled completion date.
 * By July 1, 2017:
 * Training of the force regarding transgender Service members shall be completed.
 * The process of accession (entrance to military service, through enlistment, Service Academies, ROTC, or any similar program) will be opened to transgender individuals, provided they meet the same physical and mental fitness standards as any other applicant.
 * The initial accession policy requires "an individual to have completed any medical treatment that their doctor has determined is necessary in connection with their gender transition, and to have been stable in their preferred gender for 18 months, as certified by their doctor, before they can enter the military."

The Department of Defense (DoD) Instruction 1300.28, "In-service transition for transgender service members", published on June 30, 2016, provided administrative and medical guidance for currently-serving military personnel seeking gender transition. On September 20, 2016, a commander's training handbook was published by the Department of Defense, along with a medical protocol and guidance to change a service member's gender, entitled "Transgender Service in the U.S. Military". On October 3, 2016, non-active duty service members became eligible for the Military Health System to provide behavioral health care and hormone treatments, but not sex reassignment surgery.

On October 26, 10 soldiers in the United States Army became the first to openly petition for a sex change. Also on October 26, the Department of Defense ruled that any form of discrimination among transgender youth was incompatible with an Executive Order issued by then US President Bill Clinton in the year 2000 which directed federal agencies that conduct educational activities to comply with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and issued a memorandum ordering military youth schools to immediately comply with the 2000 Executive Order.

On October 16, the United States Air Force published its official guidance policy for transgender individuals. The United States Army also followed suit and issued its guidance policy for transgender individuals on November 1. On November 7, the Navy released its official guidance policy for transgender individuals. On November 10, 2016, 55 sailors in the United States Navy and 48 airpersons in the United States Air Force publicly petitioned for their respective gender confirmation surgeries. On November 29, 2016, the United States Department of Defense Directive 1350.2, the United States Department of Defense Military Equal Opportunity Program, is updated to include gender identity.

Presidency of Donald Trump
On February 25, 2017, the Military Times learned that sometime after Trump was sworn into the presidency, Defense Department schools stopped enforcing an October 26, 2016 Department of Defense ruling that any form of discrimination among transgender youth was incompatible with an Executive Order issued by U.S. President Bill Clinton in 2000, which directed federal agencies that conduct educational activities to comply with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and issued a memorandum ordering military youth schools to immediately comply with the 2000 Executive Order.

In April 2017, President Trump nominated Army veteran and Tennessee State Senator Dr. Mark Green as his second choice for Secretary of the Army. Green was criticized for prior remarks he had made before the Chattanooga Tea Party in September 2016, including his statement that "if you poll the psychiatrists, they're going to tell you that transgender is a disease." Green withdrew his nomination in May amid strong opposition to his nomination from LGBT advocates, among others, including Daniel Feehan, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Readiness under the Obama administration, who said Green's prior statements were of "great concern towards military readiness" and could immediately impact unit cohesion.

On June 2, 2017, the Department of Defense observed the first LGBT Pride Month since the repeal of the ban on open military service by transgender service members in the US military, however there was openly transgender service members when the Department of Defense observed the 2016 LGBT Pride Month. The one-year review period prior to allowing accession of transgender individuals was due by July 1, 2017 per DTM 16-005, but Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis issued a memo to delay the start of accessions for an additional six months, stating the "additional time [will be used] to evaluate more carefully the impact of such accessions on readiness and lethality." Military leaders had asked for a delay on the start of accessions, ranging from one to two years.

Vicky Hartzler
The office of Representative Vicky Hartzler (R-MO) provided an estimate of $1.3 billion in health care costs for transgender service personnel, assuming a higher number of active-duty personnel based on the 2014 Williams Institute study, which concluded that approximately 15,500 active-duty and guard/reserve service personnel were transgender. The $1.3 billion estimate also assumed an average of 30% of transgender personnel would seek gender reassignment surgery per year at an average cost of $132,000 per surgery. However, in the Australian military's experience, only 13 troops (out of a total full-time force of 58,000) had sought gender reassignment surgery over a 30-month period; applying that rate to the United States military population gave an estimate of 192 gender reassignment surgeries in the United States military per year, which makes the surgery request rate 1.2% of the 15,500 estimated transgender service personnel from the 2014 Williams Institute study. In a subsequent interview, Hartzler stated "our own office did that analysis and we feel very confident in it."

Hartzler first proposed an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 (NDAA) in late June 2017 which would honorably discharge transgender military personnel serving openly, but withdrew the amendment after Secretary Mattis announced the six-month delay while the effect on troop readiness and lethality were being studied. During the debate on the amendment, Representative and Marine Corps veteran Duncan D. Hunter (R-CA) stated he couldn't imagine showering with "somebody who was a girl and didn’t have the surgery to become a man but kept the girl stuff", an argument rejected by Representative Donald McEachin (D-VA), who pointed out that similar arguments were made years ago opposing the integration of the armed forces. "I can imagine, not these individuals, not my colleagues to my right, but a Congress 70 or 80 years ago that said that a certain group of people weren’t smart enough to fly airplanes. That they’d run at the first sign of battle. That African-Americans could not serve in the United States Armed Forces. Well, African-Americans proved them wrong. The unit adapted. And I’d suggest that the unit adapt to transgender individuals as well."

Hartzler then proposed a narrower ban on funding gender reassignment surgeries and medical treatments for transgender military personnel via a new amendment to the NDAA in July 2017, which was voted down 209–214 when 24 moderate Republicans joined Democrats in opposing the "blatantly discriminatory" proposal. Before the vote, Secretary Mattis called Hartzler to ask her to withdraw the amendment. After the amendment was defeated, Representative Trent Franks (R-AZ) stated "it seems to me, and all due respect to everyone, that if someone wants to come to the military, potentially risk their life to save the country, that they should probably decide whether they're a man or woman before they do that." Conservatives subsequently attempted to insert a provision banning the funding in the rules governing a Pentagon spending package, but were pressured to drop that attempt in order to prevent circumvention of regular order.

Twitter announcement
On July 26, 2017, President Donald Trump announced on his Twitter page that transgender individuals would no longer be allowed "to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military", effectively reinstating the ban. Trump cited his consultation with "Generals and military experts" for his conclusion that the military "cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail", contradicting the conclusions of the 2016 RAND study. Political commentator Richard Kim observed President Trump's tweets were "a sop to the far-right evangelical faction" in the House of Representatives led by Hartzler, who had threatened the funding for President Trump's planned United States-Mexico border wall if the military continued to spend health care funds for medical treatment of gender dysphoria.

Due to the haste of the announcement, White House officials were unable to answer questions on how the proposed ban would be implemented, or what would happen to those personnel who were openly transgender. Secretary Mattis was only notified about the announcement on July 25. The New York Times noted that the move also marked "a stark turnabout for Mr. Trump, who billed himself during the campaign as an ally of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people." After the president's tweets, Hartzler stated in an interview that "this was the right call by our commander in chief, to make sure every defense dollar goes toward meeting the threats that we are facing in the world ... [T]he entire policy ... is a detriment to our readiness."

The announced reinstatement of the ban was followed by protests in New York City, Washington DC, and San Francisco on July 26, 2017, and a rally was held in front of the White House on July 29. As Trump had not yet outlined specific policy changes, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Joseph Dunford announced on July 27, 2017, that "there will be no modifications to the current policy until the president’s direction has been received by the secretary of defense and the secretary has issued implementation guidance." Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) introduced an amendment to NDAA on July 27, 2017 which would prohibit the involuntary discharge, cessation of health care benefits, or changes in responsibility or position (other than promotion, routine reassignment, or deployment) of transgender troops until sixty days after Congress received the results of the six-month study proposed by Secretary Mattis.

On August 1, 2017, the Palm Center released a letter signed by 56 retired generals and admirals, opposing the proposed ban on transgender military service members. The letter stated that if implemented, the ban "would cause significant disruptions, deprive the military of mission-critical talent and compromise the integrity of transgender troops who would be forced to live a lie, as well as non-transgender peers who would be forced to choose between reporting their comrades or disobeying policy". The commandant of the United States Coast Guard, Admiral Paul F. Zukunft, made a personal commitment to "not turn my back ... not break faith" with transgender service members in the Coast Guard on August 1, 2017. At the time, it was noted the Coast Guard was part of the Department of Homeland Security, not the Department of Defense, and it was not clear how the proposed ban on transgender service members would affect the Coast Guard.

Presidential Memorandum
"In my judgment, the previous Administration failed to identify a sufficient basis to conclude that terminating the Departments' longstanding policy and practice [prohibiting openly transgender individuals from serving in the United States military] would not hinder military effectiveness and lethality, disrupt unit cohesion, or tax military resources, and there remain meaningful concerns that further study is needed to ensure that continued implementation of last year's policy change would not have those negative effects."

- President Donald J. Trump

In late August, a memorandum was being prepared which would require Secretary Mattis to enforce the ban on transgender personnel within six months. An anonymous source familiar with the contents of the memo stated it will expel serving transgender personnel if they are unable to deploy, bar recruitment of transgender soldiers, and end payments for medical care associated with gender dysphoria, including gender reassignment surgery. Aaron Belkin, director of the Palm Center, criticized the forthcoming memo for imposing a double standard on transgender troops, calling it "a recipe for disruption, distraction, and waste". On August 25, 2017, President Trump signed a presidential memorandum identifying the guidelines for renewing the ban. In the memo, President Trump stated the ban on transgender personnel in the military will remain effective until "the Secretary of Defense, after consulting with the Secretary of Homeland Security, provides a recommendation to the contrary that I find convincing", ignoring the conclusions of the 2016 RAND study, and further called for a "halt [to] all use of DoD or DHS resources to fund sex reassignment surgical procedures for military personnel", effective March 23, 2018. The memo further required the Secretary of Defense and Secretary of Homeland Security to submit an implementation plan by February 21, 2018. Senator Tammy Duckworth [D-IL] and Representative Nancy Pelosi [D-CA] released separate statements condemning the memorandum; Pelosi stated the memo directed "the Pentagon to hurt and humiliate" transgender service personnel and questioned whether "prejudice, not the national defense" was motivating the action.

"If you are willing to risk your life for our country and you can do the job, you should be able to serve—no matter your gender identity or sexual orientation. Anything else is not just discriminatory, it is disruptive to our military and it is counterproductive to our national security. If the President enacts this ban, which would harm our military readiness, the Democratic and Republican Members of Congress who oppose this discrimination must enact legislation that prevents it from taking effect."

- Senator Tammy Duckworth [D-IL]

Two weeks before sending his directive to the Pentagon, Trump said, "I think I'm doing the military a great favor" by banning trans military members. Representative Donald McEachin (D-VA) was the lead author of a letter to Secretary Mattis on October 10, 2017, requesting records of discussions or correspondence between the White House and the Pentagon that would document or justify that Trump was "doing the military a great favor", including any substantiation of requests for a ban on transgender soldiers originating from senior military or Department of Defense personnel. The letter, which questioned "whether the president, his national security team, and military leaders are actively coordinating policy with one another, or whether the president's transgender ban announcement reflected a breakdown in communication", was co-signed by 114 other Democratic Representatives.

On August 29, 2017, Secretary Mattis announced that currently serving transgender troops would be allowed to remain in the armed services, pending further study. Mattis stated he would set up a panel of experts from the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security to provide recommendations on implementing the President's policy direction. Secretary Mattis formalized the interim policy in an interim guidance issued on September 18, 2017. The interim guidance, which expires no later than February 21, 2018, essentially freezes the policies that were in place before the Presidential Memorandum of August 25. Accession of transgender individuals is still banned per the procedures dated April 28, 2010. Transgender soldiers will not be denied reenlistment, and may not be involuntarily discharged solely on the basis of their gender identity. Medical treatment will continue for service members with a gender dysphoria diagnosis, with the exception that no new sex reassignment surgeries will be permitted after March 22, 2018 unless necessary to protect the health of an individual who has already begun treatment. Mattis named the Deputy Secretary of Defense, Patrick M. Shanahan, and the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Paul Selva, to head the advisory panel of experts tasked with providing recommendations.

Despite the Interim Guidance, the Presidential Memorandum has attracted significant legal and legislative opposition:
 * Jane Doe v. Trump, a lawsuit filed by five transgender military personnel on August 9, 2017. A preliminary injunction against the Presidential Memorandum was granted in part on October 30, 2017.
 * Stone v. Trump, a lawsuit filed by the ACLU of Maryland on August 28, 2017. A preliminary injunction against the Presidential Memorandum was granted in full on November 21, 2017.
 * Karnoski v. Trump, a lawsuit filed by Lambda Legal on August 28, 2017. A preliminary injunction against the Presidential Memorandum was granted in full on December 11, 2017.
 * Stockman v. Trump, a lawsuit filed by Equality California on September 5, 2017.
 * (September 15, 2017) and (October 12, 2017), bipartisan bills in the Senate and House, respectively, to prohibit the involuntary separation or denial of re-enlistment of military personnal solely on the basis of gender identity.

Military pays for sex reassignment surgery
In November 2017, the Defense Health Agency for the first time approved payment for sex reassignment surgery for an active-duty U.S. military service member. The patient, an infantry soldier who identifies as a woman, had already begun a course of treatment for gender reassignment. The procedure, which the treating doctor deemed medically necessary, was performed on November 14 at a private hospital, since military hospitals lack the requisite surgical expertise.

Accession of transgender individuals
The accession of transgender individuals was scheduled to be allowed by July 1, 2017, per DTM 16-005, but military leaders asked for a one to two year delay on accessions, stating more time was needed to review entrance standards and to ensure the success of transgender individuals. In response, Secretary Mattis issued a six-month delay on accessions. With Judge Kollar-Kotelly's decision on October 30, 2017 to enjoin the Presidential Memorandum of August 25, the accession policy reverts back to the six-month delay, and the accession of transgender individuals into military service is set to begin on January 1, 2018. Because Secretary Mattis had previously delayed accession by six months in June, the United States Department of Justice Civil Division filed a motion for clarification asking if Secretary Mattis had independent authority to modify DTM 16-005. In a November 27, 2017 order, Judge Kollar-Kotelly stated "Any action by any of the Defendants that changes this status quo is preliminarily enjoined." As a named defendant, Secretary Mattis does not have authority to change the preliminary injunction order of October 30, which reverts policy to the status quo prior to the Presidential Memorandum of August 25, and accessions are set to start on January 1, 2018. On December 11, Judge Kollar-Kotelly denied the motion for partial stay, noting it took three weeks for USDOJ to file the first appeal, and that she "would have expected Defendants to act with more alacrity" if the January 1, 2018 deadline for accession was unmanageable.

Demographics
According to 2014 estimates from the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Law and Public Policy, despite the ban on military service, about 21.4% of the total transgender population in the US is estimated to have served in the military. According to the 2014 study, "The American military employs more transgender people than any other organisation in the world: around 15,500...more than 6,000 of whom are on active duty."

Discharges
The military did not record statistics for the number of transgender individuals discharged. In April 2015, the Palm Center stated that at least a dozen individuals had been discharged in the past six months for being transgendered.

Veterans
Despite the official ban on transgender personnel, several veterans have come forward as transgender, typically after leaving military service.

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Memorials for LGBT veterans
In the year 2000, a memorial to all veterans and to LGBT veterans was dedicated in the national veterans cemetery in Phoenix, Arizona. In 2001, the first American memorial specifically honoring LGBT veterans was dedicated in Desert Memorial Park, Cathedral City, California. In 2014, the third LGBT Veterans Memorial was dedicated at the New Mexico Veterans Memorial Park in Albuquerque, New Mexico by the Bataan chapter of the American Veterans for Equal Rights. In May 2015, the first American federally-approved monument honoring LGBT veterans with the message "Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people have served honorably and admirably in America's armed forces" was dedicated at the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery near Chicago; the US$18,000 monument was dedicated by the Chicago Chapter of American Veterans for Equal Rights, and was defaced by vandals in June 2017.