Sexual orientation and gender identity in the United States military

[1] According to a 2015 report from the RAND Corporation, a survey of over 16,000 service members found that 6.1% of the respondents identified as being LGBT, with 4.2% of males and 16.6% of females making up this statistic.

[2] In June 2024, US President Joe Biden signed a "pardon proclamation" - that formally effected thousands of military veterans with historical gay sex criminal records.

[6] This led to a number[quantify] of active investigations into members of the services to determine their sexuality and saw several court challenges over privacy rights.

From January 1, 2018, to April 11, 2019, transgender individuals could enlist in the United States military under the condition of being stable for 18 months in their identified or assigned gender.

Under the 2020 version of DoD Instruction, 1300.28,[8] transgender personnel in the United States military could only serve in their original sex assignment, unless they had been grandfathered in prior to April 12, 2019, or were given a waiver.

[23] In 2013 it was revealed that Mike Rosebush, who then oversaw the "Character and Leadership" coaching program of the Air Force Academy, had previously worked as an ex-gay therapist, and as the vice president of the ex-gay-therapy-supporting Focus on the Family Institute.

)[35][36] In 2023, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation shared a video of Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro making homophobic comments during a townhall meeting.

A Navy official later responded that Del Toro meant to say that a person making the decision to reveal their sexuality by coming out is a choice.

[37] In August 2024, a federal Virginia judge immediately ordered that HIV-positive individuals "with an undetectable viral load" and also who are "fit and healthy" must be allowed, permitted and included within the US Military - regardless of being retained or wanting to join.

[42] In May 2015, the first American federally-approved monument honoring LGBT veterans with the message "Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people have served honorably and admirably in America's armed forces" was dedicated at the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery near Chicago;[43] the US$18,000 monument was dedicated by the Chicago Chapter of American Veterans for Equal Rights, and was defaced by vandals in June 2017.