(Amy Jo Underwood – The Sentinel) A Defense Department memo from earlier this year covering the “care of service members who identify as transgender” has been leaked to the public, showing a vast array of medical services and special privileges for self-described transgender individuals in the military.
Included in the memo are instructions for taxpayer-funded procedures regarding speech and voice therapy, voice feminization surgery, cross-sex hormones, laser hair removal, facial and body contouring, breast and chest surgery, genital surgery, and psychological counseling.
Service members identified as transgender are considered “undeployable” for up to 300 days or longer as they receive interventions, which often carry lasting effects and require further treatments. The policy also allows the service members to receive unlimited physical fitness standard waivers.