A big step forward for the LGBT community as Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced late last week that transgender folks will be allowed to openly serve in the military.

This comes after years of changes to US military policies. Not too long ago, President Obama repealed the military’s "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" policy, letting gay and lesbian people openly serve. Then last year, the Pentagon opened all combat jobs to women.

A Rand Corp. study commissioned by the military found that "there are about 2,500 transgender service members among the 1.3 million active-duty members of the military and an additional 1,500 among reserve units." For years, the Pentagon saw transgender people as sexual deviants who had to be discharged from service. Now they will soon allow transgender people who meet all standards to openly join the military by July of 2017. Let's all warmly welcome our government to 2016.

Wait. The Pentagon still has a couple of housekeeping items to sort through in the coming months, so let's hold the applause until the end. Carter said at a news conference that changes will be taking place over the next year. For starters, guidance will be issued to current transgender service members and their commanders, followed by training for the entire military. Along with that, transgender troops will now have access to medical care (and gender reassignment surgery in some cases).

Everything sounds great so far, right? Well, new policies bring forth new issues. Defense officials now have to address rules regarding restrooms, showers, and other day-to-day functions. “We’re not sure yet how much, if any, alteration of facilities is going to be involved,” said one senior defense official. “It would be double-digit millions of dollars if there were a decision to take on kind of the maximum facilities alterations.”

Some of us might recall the recent uproar caused by changes to Target's bathroom policy. The second largest retailer in the country is still suffering from that decision today as their sales and stock prices diminish, so whose to say that the same changes won't be detrimental to the rate of enlistment? On the other hand, enlistment rates of transgender Americans are predicted to increase. What's more, having access to medical care is a huge incentive as gender reassignment surgery can cost anywhere from $7,000 to $50,000.

Complications continue to arise as the Pentagon is also trying to figure out how to handle physical requirements. The military currently has different rules governing issues like grooming and uniform presentation for men and women, which are easy to abide by--if you identify as a man, you follow the men's code and if identify as a woman, you go by the women's rules. It's the fitness requirements that start to get blurry:

In the Marine Corps, for example, a man between 17 and 26 must complete a minimum of three pull-ups, 50 crunches and a three-mile run in under 28 minutes. A woman the same age must hang from a bar for a minimum of 15 seconds rather than completing pull-ups, complete at least 50 crunches and run three miles in less than 31 minutes.

Source: The Washington Post

Further policy changes are yet to come. The Pentagon still needs to address the proper process for enlisting while transgender among other details that aren't better left unsaid.

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