The next administration (unwoking the military)

Prof. Lesley Wexler (Universitry of Illinois College of Law) has written Unwoking the Military for Justia's Verdict page. Excerpt:

. . . Are there policies that satisfy the offered justifications for changing the status quo without reverting to facial exclusion? I offer two possible second-best policy changes that would at least allow for some expressive inclusion even as they would likely still foster the departure of many women from combat roles and transgender individuals from the service.

First, the military could adopt gender-neutral fitness testing. As [Pete] Hegseth’s stated opposition is not to all women in the military—just women in physically demanding roles, gender-neutral testing would address that concern. Similarly, it would address any perceived unfairness regarding trans soldiers taking what is perceived as the wrong test. Of course, one might be fairly concerned that such testing might arbitrarily or intentionally favor feats of strength more easily performed by men without measuring necessary task-specific strength, but it would still be more inclusive than a total ban.

Second, the military could eliminate fitness testing exceptions for trans individuals and gender-affirming care such as hormone therapy and surgery. Again, this might not be my preferred policy outcome, but it has the virtue, minimal as it might be, of not excluding trans individuals as such on its face. In a world of forced choices, offering second-bests is plausibly better than the alternative. At the very least, if supporters reject these alternative solutions despite the fact that they address their stated operational concerns, those supporters would need to explain why total exclusion is necessary—revealing that their true motivations may stem from prejudice rather than from practical military considerations.