Transgender SEAL says Pentagon serious about changing policy

Posted 2015-08-20 13:01 by Grunt Report

Kristin Beck, a former Navy SEAL and now a transgender woman running for Congress, said Wednesday that the Pentagon is taking the secretary’s order to look at lifting the ban on transgender service very seriously and doing a good job looking at issues each branch might face.

“There’s a lot of meetings going on behind closed doors,” Beck told the Washington Examiner. “I know they’re going to do a very good job. They’re taking it very seriously and working through all the difficulties toward success.”

The Pentagon-wide working group established last month by Defense Secretary Ash Carter met for the first time Wednesday afternoon, according to Matthew Allen, a Pentagon spokesman. The group with representatives from the services, the Joint Chiefs and the Office of the Secretary of Defense will present its findings by January.

Beck hid her transgender identity for 20 years while serving as a Navy SEAL, deploying 13 times and earning the Purple Heart and a Bronze Star with “V.” She retired from the military in 2011 and began her transition to become a woman in 2013. She is now mounting a primary challenge in 2016 to Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md.

Beck said each branch has been meeting “for a while” to look at how lifting the ban on transgender troops serving openly would effect its troop morale and operational readiness. Studies conducted by the services, she said, will then be passed up to a higher level.

“I think it’s a great idea,” she said. “The impact on each branch will be different, they have different needs and different ideas of how this will effect them.”

While the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in 2011 allowed gay troops to serve openly, transgender troops can still be kicked out of the military under current law. There are about 15,500 active-duty transgender troops, according to some estimates.

Carter announced the formation of the working group last month, calling the ban on transgender service members “outdated” and saying that it distracted from the military’s “core missions.”

“At my direction, the working group will start with the presumption that transgender persons can serve openly without adverse impact on military effectiveness and readiness, unless and except where objective, practical impediments are identified,” Carter said in a July statement.

Beck said she spoke at a three-day conference with officials from Special Operations Command last month to discuss transgender inclusion, as well as other hot-button issues like sexual assault, minority treatment and equal opportunity.

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