Palm Center Reaction To New Military Panel On Transgender Service

San Francisco, CA - August 30, 2017 -- Palm Center director Aaron Belkin released the following statement in reaction to yesterday's announcement that Defense Secretary James Mattis will form a panel of experts to provide advice on the implementation of the President's direction to ban transgender service members from the military.

"While Secretary Mattis may be trying to inject additional evidence into the process, that doesn't change the fact that the President has ordered him to ban a group of honorably serving Americans. Transgender military service has already been studied in-depth, and every study has found the same thing, that inclusive policy promotes readiness. If the Secretary conducts a comprehensive, fair study, he will once again find the same conclusion: that inclusive policy promotes readiness, lethality, and cost savings -- much more than discharges and closeted service do."

About The Palm Center

The Palm Center is an independent research institute committed to sponsoring state-of-the-art scholarship to enhance the quality of public dialogue about critical and controversial public policy issues. Our research on sexual minorities in the military has been published in leading social scientific journals. The Palm Center seeks to be a resource for university-affiliated as well as independent scholars, students, journalists, opinion leaders, and members of the public. For more information, see www.palmcenter.org