Selective Service Registration Requirements and Transgender Persons

Question

Federal laws require that males aged 18 to 25 register for Selective Service. Does this requirement also apply to persons who:

• were originally born female
• now consider themselves transgender males

Answer 1

From TransEquality.org:

People who were assigned female at birth are not required to register with the Selective Service regardless of their current gender or transition status. When applying for federal financial aid, grants, and loans as a man, however, you may be asked to prove that you are exempt. To request a Status Information Letter (SIL) that shows you are exempt, you can either download an SIL request form from the Selective Service website (http://www.sss.gov/PDFs/SilForm_Instructions.pdf) or call them at 1-888-655-1825. This service is free and the exemption letter you will receive does not specify why you are exempt so it will not force you to out yourself in any other application process. The Selective Service does, however, require a copy of your birth certificate showing your birth-assigned sex. If the sex on your birth certificate has been changed, attach any documentation you have to that affect. Once you receive your Status Information Letter, keep it in your files. For those FTM people who transition before their eighteenth birthdays and change their birth certificates, it is also possible to register with the service. However, no one may register after their twenty-sixth birthday. Also, please note that although Selective Service materials refer to transgender people as “people who have had a sex change,” their policies apply to those who have transitioned regardless of surgical history.

The referenced form has a section where you can declare your gender assigned at birth, and you must attach a copy of your birth certificate. It would appear that having your gender assigned as female at birth does in fact exempt you from the requirement to register with selective service, and as a result you should not be penalized for any purpose related to your not having registered.