COMMENT: Trump's Transgender Ban Reverses Progress

By Rhicha Kapila, Partner and Head of the Military Claims team at Bolt Burdon Kemp ​​​​​​

President Trump’s announcement on Twitter that transgender citizens will not be allowed to serve in the US military “in any capacity” is truly shocking.

It is sad that in today’s society, and in a progressive and diverse country such as the USA, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) people continue to face discrimination in the workplace as well as in other aspects of their lives.

The move reverses the progress towards equality by overturning President Barrack Obama’s policy that loosened restrictions on transgender people to serve in the US Armed Forces.  

It’s a sigh of relief that the British Army now welcomes transgender personnel and reassures us that those who apply to join are considered for service, subject to meeting the same mental and physical entry standards as any other candidate.

This surely, in my opinion, must be the only consideration, as with any another recruit.

Trump’s “Transgender Ban” Is Unlawful

However, the ban on transgender service only lifted in the UK, following a lengthy battle in the European Court of Human Rights, on 12 January 2000 following years of persecution.

It is unlawful under the Equality Act 2010, to discriminate on the grounds of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion, sex and sexual orientation.

Those that have completed transition are now treated as an individual of their acquired gender.

“Positive Strides” For The British Army?

On the face of it, the British Army appears to be taking positive strides.

In the weeks leading up to London Pride, the rainbow flag was raised above Army buildings across the UK, as a display of support for the Army’s LGBTI personnel.

At the recent Army LGBT conference 2017, the Diversity and Inclusion policy team and the Deputy Chaplain General discussed policy progressing towards same sex marriage in military chapels in the next twelve months.

 However, the LGBTI forum is still required to support individuals and for this reason, the commitment to driving forward an inclusive forces community was said to be still “not good enough”. This is a fair comment, in my view.

It isn’t clear how many transgender personnel currently serve in the British Army, but more must be done to ensure that our military is diverse and doesn’t discriminate against anyone wishing to serve and protect our country. 

The military convent expressly states that British soldiers must be treated ‘fairly’ and respected as ‘individuals’.

At Bolt Burdon Kemp, we are aware of many instances of bullying and harassment in the forces, and receive lots of enquiries from veterans who were simply too afraid to raise complaints during their service.

Any discriminatory behaviour must be stamped out if we want our forces to display the same values of the society they protect.