Soldiers Can’t Transfer Just Because of Abortion Bans or LGBTQ Laws, Army Chief Says
September 8, 2022
The Army’s top general said the service is not considering allowing soldiers to be reassigned to new bases if they feel local laws discriminate against them, following Republican criticism after the service recently began mulling the idea.
Gen. James McConville, the Army’s chief of staff, on Wednesday shot down the proposed policy tweak service officials were considering behind closed doors, as first reported by Military.com in May. The move would have updated the Army’s so-called compassionate reassignment policy — typically reserved for troops to transfer bases in cases of family or health emergencies — to allow soldiers to transfer to a new state if laws discriminate against them based on sex, religion, gender or pregnancy.
The news comes amid Pentagon and Biden administration concerns over the impact of abortion rights being abolished in many states following a Supreme Court decision in June striking down Roe v. Wade. The move by Army planners to look at revamping compassionate reassignment rules was also at least partially motivated by Florida’s new law critics have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay Bill,” one source with direct knowledge told Military.com.
“We do have options where a soldier can say, ‘Hey, I want to serve in Alaska,’ and if we can meet those preferences, we will actually do that. But as far as, ‘I’m only going to serve in these states’ or ‘I’m going to do that.’ … It’s a contract. … You could say, ‘I’d like to go to one of these places’ and, if we can make it work, we’ll try to make it work for them,” McConville told Defense One.
https://workingwarriors.us/army/soldiers-cant-transfer-just-because-of-abortion-bans-or-lgbtq-laws-army-chief-says/
