Transgender Troops, Military Experts Gather in First-ever International Conference, Convened by Palm Center

E-NEWS PARK FOREST -- Transgender service members from five of the 18 foreign militaries that allow transgender service today gathered alongside U.S. service members in Washington, D.C. The gathering, Perspectives on Transgender Military Service from Around the Globe, is sponsored by SF State’s Palm Center and the ACLU and is the first-ever and largest international conference of transgender military service members on U.S. soil. It is expected to ​inform the national conversation about U.S. military policy. “The lesson from today's conference is clear,” said Aaron Belkin, director of the Palm Center and a professor of Political Science at San Francisco State University. “Transgender personnel serve successfully in foreign militaries, and inclusive policy will be successful in the U.S. as well.”