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FACTBOX-As US issues ban, other nations allow transgender troops in military

by Sebastien Malo | @SebastienMalo | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Wednesday, 26 July 2017 18:32 GMT

U.S. Navy personnel stand at a doorway of USS Peleliu, an amphibious assault ship docked in Subic Bay, a former U.S. Navy base next to Olongapo, northwest of Manila, in this 2014 archive photo. REUTERS/Lorgina Minguito

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At least 18 nations allow transgender personnel to serve openly

By Sebastien Malo

NEW YORK, July 26 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he would ban transgender people from the U.S. military.

Trump to ban transgender U.S. military personnel, reversing Obama

"Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail," Trump wrote.

As many as 10,700 transgender people are estimated to be serving in the U.S. military out of 1.4 million overall, according to a 2016 study by the RAND Corp., a California-based defense think tank. Another 134,000 people are transgender veterans, experts estimate.

The U.S. Department of Defense announced last year it was ending a ban on transgender troops serving openly, and it was expected this year to start allowing transgender recruits to join the armed forces.

Worldwide, it is unclear precisely how many national militaries actively bar transgender people, said Aaron Belkin, executive director of the Palm Center, an LGBT-rights think tank in California.

"Most countries just don't have any policy," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

But at least 18 nations allow transgender personnel to serve openly. Below is a list, according to a 2014 report by the Hague Center for Security Studies in the Netherlands:

- Australia

- Austria

- Belgium

- Bolivia

- Canada

- Czech Republic

- Denmark

- Estonia

- Finland

- France

- Germany

- Israel

- Netherlands

- New Zealand

- Norway

- Spain

- Sweden

- United Kingdom



(Sources: The Hague Center for Strategic Studies; RAND Corporation)

(Reporting by Sebastien Malo @sebastienmalo, Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights, climate change and resilience. Visit http://news.trust.org)

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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