Navy Surgeon General Vice Adm. Forrest Faison said in a recent interview that the Navy and Marine Corps are ready to provide care for sailors and Marines looking to switch genders.
Faison said in a Dec. 3 interview with Navy Times that the service is all set to provide transition surgeries, but some of the surgeries, for now, will have to be taken care of by the private sector.
Faison divided surgeries into two kinds: top and bottom.
“Top surgeries we do — augmentation surgeries, mastectomies, we do those for other medical conditions,” Faison said.
As for “bottom” surgeries involving genitals, those have to be taken care of elsewhere.
“Because of the potential for high complications, we consult experts in the civilian sector to make sure it’s done safely and with the lowest risk of adverse outcomes. For now, this procedure will likely be referred to a civilian center of excellence,” Faison said.
But a lack of bottom surgery within the Navy is unlikely to deter sailors and Marines from transitioning, as many of them don’t even bother with surgery. Instead, most just stick with hormone therapy. And others will just opt for partial surgery. Not many transgenders go all the way with full hormone therapy and full surgery, leaving them in somewhat of a halfway state.
All medical personnel will have to undergo training about rules relating to transgender care.
“We’re in the process of developing training that will be delivered later this month or the early part of next month to train every deckplate provider — we want to make sure they’re well trained and they’re compassionate and empathetic as we seek to provide the best care our nation can offer,” Faison said.
The Navy released general, service-wide guidance on Nov. 7 regarding transgender personnel, which noted that starting Oct 1., sailors could start the gender transition process.
Neither the Navy, nor the Marine Corps gave specific numbers on sailors and Marines who have come forward to get more information on what the transition process looks like.
Follow Jonah Bennett on Twitter
Send tips to jonah@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.