Transgender policy in the Australian Defence Force: Medicalization and its discontents

ABSTRACT

In 2010, the Australian Defence Force (ADF) repealed a Defence Instruction that had effectively barred transgender people from serving. Transgender personnel have slowly been coming out since 2010, positioning Australia as an international leader in terms of recognizing the contribution that transgender and gender diverse people can make to military institutions. Yet ADF documents, media reports, and the testimonies of transgender personnel, past and present, suggest a more complex picture of evolving ADF policies toward transgender personnel. This article traces the history of ADF policies toward transgender service and focuses on the medical frameworks deployed. Repealing the ban on transgender service in 2010 left what was essentially a policy vacuum, and gradually medical regulations have filled that void. Medicalized understandings of gender dysphoria (as distinct from transgender identity) had the potential to support transgender personnel through health benefits not available to civilian Australians. Yet as policies evolved, the ADF developed directives around particular treatments for gender dysphoria, adopting subjective time frames and medical downgrades and restricting transition options. So while ADF rhetoric has emphasized diversity and transgender (among LGBTI) inclusion within the ADF, gradually the medicalized approach to transgenderism has disempowered and restricted transgender service members' opportunities.

Keywords:

• Australia
• defence
• military
• policy
• transgender

Acknowledgments

The author gratefully acknowledges the participation of the seven interviewees: “Kate,” Cate Humphries, Donna Harding, Dana Pham, Bridget Clinch, Amy Hamblin, and Dr. Fintan Harte and the provision of documents and feedback on earlier drafts of this article. The author conducted six of the interviews, and Dr. Shirleene Robinson of Macquarie University conducted one. The author also thanks the following colleagues for their critical feedback and input on drafts of this article: Dr. Catherine Bishop, Dr. Laura Rademaker, Dr. Hannah Forsyth, Dr. Melissa Bellanta, and Dr. Maggie Nolan.

Funding

Funding was provided by the Australian Research Council (DP160103548).

Notes

1. In February 2016, the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) news program The Feed ran a feature on transgender military service, profiling current ADF members Catherine Humphries and Donna Harding (Abboud, 2016). They were both interviewed for this article.

2. The attorney-general overruled this decision sometime in 2010.

3. A doctor who has worked in LGBTI health informed me that this used to be a problem for transgender people in civilian Australia as well because of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme regulations.

4. Canadian Forces have also paid for prescribed gender reassignment surgeries, hormones, and other gender dysphoria treatment since 1998 (Okros & Scott, 2015, p. 245). While the U.S. policies in this area are still being developed, media reports indicate that transgender members there will also have all treatments covered (Rizzo & Cohen, 2016).

5. The Department of Defence is currently working on an updated version of this document.

6. This is one of a few closed Facebook groups for transgender Defence members that have existed in recent years.