Marriage equality is currently an issue for military couples with trans spouses, highlighting a Department of Defense (DoD) cultural competence issue.
If a spouse changes his or her gender after being married and entered into the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS) as a particular gender, then one is that gender until one goes through the arduous process of changing one’s gender with the DoD.
The requirement for spouses changing their gender was spelled out in an email to a corporal from a warrant officer point of contact (POC) at the Army National Guard project office:
“Currently, DHRA is processing gender requests when the person is single or divorced. Married same-sex couples or domestic partners (mainly, retired populations), these are still under review at DHRA.
The following information is needed before DHRA can have the gender updated in DEERS by DMDC:
1. Court documents showing, in most instances, name and gender change.
2. Birth certificate.
3. SSN card.
4. Medical document/statement indicating trans-gender assignment change.
5. Member’s POC information (e-mail or telephone) for follow-up once the gender change is updated in DEERS.”
These are the same requirements that I filled in with more detail in my May 16 column “Changing my documented gender with the Department of Defense” (viewable online at https://lgbtweekly.jeffjungblut.com/?p=37063).
The POC also added this to her message to the corporal:
“As of August 2013, 13 states that recognize same-sex marriage are California, Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and District of Columbia.
As far as contractor’s that are transgender and would like to change their gender in DEERS (with no military affiliation i.e. guard, reserve or retired) they have to contact their [Contractor Verification System Trusted Agent].”
The change of recorded gender policy for the Department of Defense is much different with much more documentation required than the change of recorded gender policy that’s common to the Veterans Administration, Social Security Administration and State Department. One can be considered one gender under the common policy of three federal agencies that track gender and a different gender by the Department of Defense.
If one is transgender and married, and successfully changes one’s gender with the DoD, one’s marriage is then considered to be a same-sex marriage. At that point the marriage is only recognized by the DoD if one were married in one of the 13 states that have marriage equality. Otherwise, the couple has to remarry in one of the 13 states that permit same-sex marriages.
Brynn Tannehill, a lieutenant commander in the Naval Reserves, is a contractor enrolled in the Contractor Verification System. As such, she’s registered in DEERS both as a reservist and as a contractor. She’s also trans. She was married to her wife in Florida – a state that doesn’t recognize marriage equality – before her transition. When she changes her recorded gender with the DoD, her Florida marriage to her wife won’t be considered valid by the DoD because she wasn’t married in one of the 13 states that recognize marriage equality. For her marriage to continue to be recognized as a valid marriage by the DoD she’ll have to remarry in one of those 13 states.
This is nonsensical.
When asked about this marriage policy discrepancy, DoD spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Nate Christensen of Defense Press Office, Personnel and Readiness section, responded with a non sequitur response:
“DoD regulations don’t allow transgender individuals to serve in the U.S. military, based upon medical standards for military service. These standards are listed in DoD Instruction (DoDI) 6130.03, Medical Standards for Appointment, Enlistment, or Induction in the Military Service.”
This lack of DoD cultural competence on transgender issues can be traced back to the DoD not having an antidiscrimination policy based on sexual orientation and gender identity. There is no money set aside by the DoD for cultural competency training on LGBT issues because antidiscrimination policies are taught as part of Equal Opportunity training.
Full marriage equality in the military services is going to be difficult to achieve without training; cultural competence on LGBT issues by the military is going to be difficult to achieve without training.
The military has LGBT problems that don’t look likely to be fixed soon because of that lack of cultural competence.
I’m sure they need cultural competency training about trans people, but for this issue, all they need a JAG telling them that the validity of a marriage doesn’t change simply because one partner transitions. Only a court-ordered divorce or annulment, or the death of one of the partners can do that. A Michigan court this spring said exactly that. Sorry I don’t have the case name or citation available on my phone.
That kinda goes to the point — The people who wrote the memorandums, directives, etc. didn’t think to ask JAG; they didn’t think to talk among themselves about the marriages of military folk with a trans spouse. Their policy reflects that.
Just ask Brynn. She knows first hand.
Here is a recent Federal judge that issued an injunction in Ohio (a state whose Constitution was amended to prohibit same-sex marriages) requiring a couple married legally in Maryland to be recognized in Ohio under the U.S. Constitution’s “Equal Protection” clause. All it would take is a federal judge in these areas to issue a similar ruling (or wait until this type of case gets reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court).
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/03/ohio-must-recognize-marriage_n_3863068.html
So, the complaint is that the military is holding those who claim to have changed their gender to the same standard as those born that gender? And yet, the standard refrain is that special rights are not being sought… Nah, you just want to have you cake and eat it too…