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Chuck Hagel: Ban on transgender people in military should be reviewed
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May 12, 2014
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Chuck Hagel: Ban on transgender people in military should be reviewed
While the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" means gays and lesbians can now serve openly in the military, transgender service members are still banned.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel speaks at an event hosted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and the University of Chicago Institute of Politics at the Fairmont Hotel on May 6, 2014 in Chicago, Illinois. Hagel's speech focused on the military's transition from 13 years of war to a new era with different strategic priorities and fiscal constraints.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel speaks at an event hosted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and the University of Chicago Institute of Politics at the Fairmont Hotel on May 6, 2014 in Chicago, Illinois. Hagel's speech focused on the military's transition from 13 years of war to a new era with different strategic priorities and fiscal constraints.
(
Brian Kersey/Getty Images
)

While the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" means gays and lesbians can now serve openly in the military, transgender service members are still banned.

While the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" means gays and lesbians can now serve openly in the military, transgender service members are still banned.

But over the weekend, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in an interview with ABC's "This Week" that he was "open" to a review of the policy:



"It continually should be reviewed, I'm open to that, by the way. I'm open to those assessments. Because, again, I go back to the bottom line. Every qualified American who wants to serve our country should have the opportunity. If they fit the qualifications and can do it."

Professor Aaron Belkin, who studies transgender military service and is Director of the Palm Center at San Francisco State University, joins the show to talk about the Pentagon's policy on transgender people in the military.