A new study reveals that transgender active duty service members (ADSM) report few lifetime mental and physical health problems.

These findings challenge the current policy of excluding transgender persons from enlisting in the U.S. military or discharging them based on the presumption that they are unfit to serve due to their mental or physical health.

Fit to Serve? Exploring Mental and Physical Health and Well-Being Among Transgender Active-Duty Service Members and Veterans in the U.S. Military explores the lifetime mental and physical problems of transgender ADSM and veterans. The research was done by Brandon Hill and Alida Bouris of the University of Chicago, Joshua Trey Barnett of the University of Utah (Salt Lake City) and Dayna Walker, transgender American Veterans Association.

Although transgender people are currently excluded from enlistment and discharged from service based on medical and psychological fitness policies, the current mental and physical health of transgender active-duty U.S. military personnel and veterans is poorly understood. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the military histories, lifetime mental and physical health diagnoses, and transgender transition-related health of transgender ADSM and veterans.

Our data represent the first descriptive statistics of lifetime mental and physical health issues among transgender ADSM and veterans. Data indicate that transgender ADSM report fewer lifetime mental and physical health problems than transgender veterans. Taken together, our findings suggest that more research, specifically among transgender ADSM, is needed to challenge the exclusion of transgender persons from U.S. military service based on the presumption of poor mental or physical health.

An estimated 18 countries currently allow transgender men and women to openly serve in the military. In March 2015, Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (AW/NAC) Mike Stevens indicated that transgender people should be allowed to serve “if they meet the Navy's standards.” More recently, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announced that the military anticipates lifting the ban on transgender service at the conclusion and recommendation of the Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness working group investigation. Holding in abeyance the conflation of transgender identity with a psychosexual condition that requires psychiatric and/or psychological treatment, our data do not indicate that transgender ADSM report levels of lifetime mental or physical health problems at rates that should necessarily bar them from service. However, additional research specifically focused on larger samples of transgender ADSM is needed to challenge the exclusion of transgender persons from serving in the U.S. military based on the presumption of poor mental or physical health. Moreover, our data suggest that transgender ADSM diverge from veterans on several important health indicators. Although additional research is needed, our study is one of the first to collect primary data on a sample of transgender ADSM and lends support to an emerging consensus that transgender men and women should be allowed to serve openly in the U.S. military with their cisgender heterosexual and LGB peers.

The research was funded by the Palm Center Transgender Military Service Initiative. Action by Ash Carter on the current ban is expected by May.