Army Secretary Fanning hints at lifting of transgender ban on service

By Rob Howard
Associate Editor

It has been only three weeks since Eric Fanning was confirmed to be the Secretary of the Army. Fanning’s appointment was history making, since he is the first openly gay man to head a United States military service.

The military is currently studying what the impact of allowing transgender military members to serve openly. Secretary Fanning may have hinted at progress in that direction in his remarks at the Capital Pride Heroes Gala in Washington  Wednesday night.

Fanning was awarded the Paving the Way Award” at the gala, which is held annually to kick off LGBT Pride Month.

According to MetroWeekkly.com, Fanning “has previously said that he supports allowing transgender service members to serve openly, and made what appeared to be several references to the importance of fighting for transgender rights in his speech.”

The Army Secretary’s remarks addressed the military’s history of opening the services to those who couldn’t serve in the past.

“Time and time again in the military, as we have opened it up to people who weren’t allowed to serve in the past: African-Americans after World War II; women over many years, not just recently; the end of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’; [and] things haven’t fallen apart, they’ve gotten better,” Fanning said according to MetroWeekly.

“’The problems we’re facing, the challenges we’re facing, are ever more complicated in the world, certainly in the national security sphere,’ he continued. ‘Why wouldn’t we want as many people as possible solving those kind of problems? The more backgrounds we have, the more viewpoints we have, the more experiences we have…the better off we’re going to be. And we’re going to keep getting better, fighting for more people to be included and have rights. … That’s all that this is about, to have the same opportunity to defend the nation we all love.’

“Throughout his five-minute speech, Fanning expressed his gratitude for the award while also giving significant credit to others who had fought for equal rights and paved the way for him, not just those in the LGBT community but figures from the Civil Rights and Women’s Rights movements.

“’We still have people whose rights are not what they should be, and we need to keep fighting for them on this journey,’ Fanning said. ‘But we’re all in this together, not just the LGBT community, all of us. We all benefit from increasing opportunities for others, and increasing rights for others.’”

Current regulations ban transgender individuals from serving in the military. In July 2015 the AP reported that Defense Secretary Ash Carter had ordered a six-month study “aimed at formally ending one of the last gender- or sexuality- based barriers to military service.

Reports on the result of the study said that allowing openly transgender persons to serve in the military would have no impact on the services. LGBT and Trans advocates await the decision regarding the right of transgender persons to serve their country.

Copyright 2016 The Gayly – June 3, 2016.