US military repeals ban on transgender service members

File photo shows US Defense Secretary Ash Carter addresses a news conference at the Pentagon in Washington, Feb 29, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon on Thursday ended its ban on openly transgender people serving in the US military, formally removing the risk to an estimated thousands of US troops who once could have been kicked out of the armed forces due to gender identity.

The repeal, which ends one of the last barriers to serving in the military, comes after a 2011 decision to end the US military's ban on openly gay and lesbian people serving, despite concerns - which proved unfounded - that such a move could be too great a burden in wartime and would undermine battle readiness.

"We're eliminating policies that can result in transgender members being treated differently from their peers based solely upon their gender identity rather than upon their ability to serve," Defense Secretary Ash Carter told reporters.

Carter said that within 90 days, the Pentagon would create a guidebook for commanders on rules regarding transgender service members and medical guidance to doctors.

Within one year, transgender individuals would be allowed to join the armed forces, provided they have been "stable" in their preferred gender for 18 months, he said.

Carter said that based on a study carried out by the RAND Corporation, there were about 2,500 transgender active-duty service members and 1,500 reserve transgender service members. Still, Rand's figures were within a range, which at the upper end reached 7,000 active duty forces and 4,000 reserves.

The RAND study, which was also released on Thursday, said the lifting of the ban would cost between $2.4 million and $8.4 million annually in medical care, but could reduce costs associated with mental health.