Pentagon to announce plans this week to lift ban on transgendered troops: Reports

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Associated Press, Chicago Tribune, AL.com

By Leada Gore | [e-mail]
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on July 13, 2015 at 2:13 PM, updated July 13, 2015 at 2:14 PM

Department of Defense leaders will announce a plan later this week to lift the ban on transgendered individuals in the military, The Associated Press has learned.

The change won't be immediate, but Pentagon officials are expected to announce a six-month timeline in which services would have the chance to work out the details. During that time, transgender individuals would not be able to join the military but decisions on those already serving would be referred to the Pentagon's undersecretary for personnel. That process would virtually halt any dismissals during that time.

Brad Carson, personal undersecretary to Secretary of Defense Ash Carter will lead the group of senior military and civilian leaders setting up the new policies and procedures.

Transgender individuals are currently prohibited from military service; however, it is estimated as many as 15,000 transgender people currently serve in secret.


Read more: http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2015/07/pentagon_to_announce_plans_thi.html

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Pentagon readying plan to lift ban on transgender individuals in the military

[JackBeck]

1. Great news for transgender folks, but who are the "transgendered" ones this article refers to? n/t

[eggplant]

3. That would be from al.com. You should direct comments there, I think.

The original Chicago Tribune article uses correct terms.

[JackBeck]

4. AL.com looks almost exactly like NJ.com

Kind of a sad that our "mainstream media" is overwhelmingly corporately owned.

Maybe the OP should correct the headline to align with the Chicago Tribune article, since they are correctly following the journalistic guidelines when talking about trans folks.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

6. I use an old browser, and not every newspaper's page opens correctly.

Last edited Tue Jul 14, 2015, 05:09 PM - Edit history (1)

Sometimes it will stall during loading. I try to go to the source, but I have to go with the page that opens. This was an Associated Press report, so any paper that is a member of AP should have the basic story. What's localized is the headline provided by the paper. Given a choice, I try to pick the source that (in addition to loading properly) has the headline that makes the most sense to people. Reporting on decisions made by county commissioners can be troublesome. A headline like "Jefferson says no" is meaningless to anyone who does not know that the real story is "Jefferson County, Alabama, commissioners vote to ban something or other," to invent an example.

It's LBN, so I try to give as much information as I can without breaking the LBN rules.

I have an Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual sitting right next to me, but it's not new enough to cover this. Mine is the 1996 edition.

AP Stylebook on Facebook

AP Stylebook on Twitter

Thank you for your post.

[eggplant]

8. I suspect that it was an inadvertant mistake.

Prior to emailing the author, I looked at another piece she did about transgender people, and she used proper terminology. After emailing her, she responded very quickly, and the article in the OP was already corrected online.

So I would say it falls more into a typo sort of error rather than an ignorance one.

[eggplant]

5. I got a reply from the author!

My note:

Please note that “transgendered” is incorrect, in the same way that “maled” and “femaled” is incorrect. It is an attribute, not an action. “Transgender” is correct, as the original Chicago Tribune article chose.

Issuing a correction would be in order.

Thank you.

Her reply:

Thank you. I’ve changed the wording.

Leada Gore
Senior Opinion Writer

+1 256.532.2607
[e-mail]
www.al.com

[JackBeck]

7. Awesome :)

[mahatmakanejeeves]

9. I include the author's contact information whenever I can.

Precisely so that comments or questions can be directed to him or her.

[sarge43]

2. Good. It's about time. n/t