Transgender in the US Military

The United States Armed Forces have a long history of transgender service personnel, dating back to at least the Civil War. Initially, most such service members were women, who disguised themselves as men in order to serve in combat roles. Many reverted to their female identities upon leaving their service, but others maintained their male identities. In more recent years, openly transgender people have served or sought to serve in the military. The subject began to engender some political controversy starting with transgender servicemembers being banned in 1960 and possibly earlier. This controversy came to a head in the 2010s and was subjected to relatively rapid changes for the next few years. As of 2021, transgender individuals are expressly permitted to serve openly as their identified gender. A brief timeline is as follows:

From at least 1960 and possibly earlier, Executive Order 10450 was applied to ban transgender individuals from serving in the United States military.
From June 30, 2016, to January 1, 2018, transgender individuals in the United States military were allowed to serve in their identified or assigned gender upon completing transition.
From January 1, 2018, to April 11, 2019, transgender individuals could enlist in the United States military under the condition of being stable for 18 months in their identified or assigned gender.
From April 12, 2019, to January 25, 2021, transgender individuals could not enlist in the United States military had they been affirmed, and if they had a history of gender dysphoria they could only enlist, under their gender assigned at birth, after 36 months of stability. Currently serving individuals could only serve under their gender assigned at birth.
From January 26, 2021, onwards, there are no restrictions on military service by transgender individuals. Medical care for transitioning servicemembers is provided by the military and procedures for handling the transition in official records established.[1]