As of January first the U.S military is now allowing transgender people to enlist as long as they can meet the required medical criteria. All transgender recruits who have had gender reassignment surgery must have a doctor sign off that at least 18 months has elapsed since the date of the most recent surgery and that no additional surgeries are required. They must also be stable in their preferred gender for 18 months. President Trump tweeted that the medical costs would be to expensive and holds with his position against it. The total medical costs for those seeking to transition comes out to about $3-4 million dollars a year for the pentagon who spends about $6 billion annually on medical expenses out of their $610 billion dollar budget. I believe this is great that transgenders are now allowed to join the military, and as long as they can meet the standards I don’t think anything should stop them from being able to serve their country. I also don’t think the medical expenses would be to costly given the budget. I think this is the right choice because it will give many people the opportunity to come out without having to be worried about being discharged from the military. As well as giving the people who were previously discharged a chance to now reenlist to serve their country.
