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“Welcome! Oh, wait…” Transgender Military Service in a Time of Uncertainty
Author(s) -
EmbserHerbert Máel
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
sociological inquiry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.446
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1475-682X
pISSN - 0038-0245
DOI - 10.1111/soin.12329
Subject(s) - transgender , military service , context (archaeology) , inclusion (mineral) , sociology , service (business) , political science , gender studies , law , business , history , archaeology , marketing
In 2014, the Department of Defense began a broad review of transgender military service. Following this review, in 2016, the Obama Administration announced a policy of transgender inclusion in the military. However, in 2017, before enactment of that policy, President Trump announced the reinstatement of a ban on transgender military service. Although, in the last five years, these events have garnered much media attention, sociologists have generally left them unexplored. In this article, I begin the process of incorporating transgender military experience into sociological discussions by examining how transgender service members navigate their uncertain status vis‐à‐vis military service. In so doing, I explore how transgender personnel might be “doing transgender” (Connell, Gender & Society 24(1):31) in the context of shifting norms about who can and cannot officially exist within the ranks of the military as well as possibilities for future research examining transgender military experience more broadly.