The Pentagon on Thursday lifted a long-standing ban against transgender men and women serving openly in the military, removing one of its last discriminatory hurdles and placing gender identity on par with race, religion, color, sex and sexual orientation.

The announcement by Defense Secretary Ashton Carter is part of a fundamental shift in the straight-laced, male-dominated U.S. military, which in 2011 ended discrimination against gays and lesbians. More recently, it opened all combat positions to women and appointed the first openly gay Secretary of the Army, Eric K. Fanning.

“Our mission is to defend this country, and we don’t want barriers unrelated to a person’s qualification to serve preventing us from recruiting or retaining the soldier, sailor, airman or Marine who can best accomplish the mission,” Carter said. “We have to have access to 100 percent of America’s population for our all-volunteer force to be able to recruit from among them the most highly qualified — and to retain them.”

Ending the transgender ban, which followed an extensive one-year review, will affect a small fraction of individuals serving in the armed forces, or about 0.1 percent of the approximately 2 million active and reserve members in the U.S military.

Still the social and political ramifications are likely to be felt more broadly. The military has often been a trailblazer in taking steps against discrimination, most notably ending segregation of African-Americans in the 1940s.

The move also comes as conservative states like North Carolina and others are moving to pass laws aimed at transgender men and women, such as those requiring them to use public bathrooms based on the gender stated on their birth certificates.

Critics in Congress were quick to respond. Rep. Mac Thornberry, a Texas Republican and chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said in a statement that the decision was “the latest example of the Pentagon and the president prioritizing politics over policy.”

Privately, some senior military leaders believe the Pentagon is moving too fast and has not yet resolved issues related to implementation of the plan. In recent weeks, Carter has met with military chiefs to hear concerns and suggestions to ease the process.

Gen. Joseph Dunford, former Marine commandant and now chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was noticeably absent during Carter’s announcement. Officials said he was hosting a general’s retirement party.

“This is my decision,” Carter said when asked about Dunford’s absence. “However, we have arrived at it together, the senior leadership of the department.”

The move came nearly five years after the formal end of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” a 17-year-old policy that barred gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military.

Under that policy, thousands of men and women in uniform were expelled due to sexual orientation. Openly gay civilian employees at the Defense Department faced similar discrimination until 1995 because they often could not obtain security clearances needed to work in national security agencies.

The Pentagon took its first significant step toward lifting the ban on transgender service members last July when Carter announced a six-month study designed to examine what it would take to make the change.

Under the old rule, the Pentagon banned transgender troops from openly serving. If they revealed their transgender identity, they could be kicked out or denied reenlistment solely on that basis.

The new plan will be phased in over a one-year period, but transgender service members currently on duty will be able to immediately serve openly. Carter gave the armed services until Oct. 1 to create medical and training plans and until July 1, 2017, for full implementation.

The Pentagon does not have a precise count of how many transgender men and women are in the services now because they face discharge if they reveal their identities.

Out of an estimated 1.3 million active service members, there are as many as 6,630 transgender men and women who will be affected by the decision, according to a study by RAND Corp., a Santa Monica, Calif.-based think tank.

“Only a small portion of service members would likely seek gender transition-related medical treatments that would affect their deployability or health care costs,” said Agnes Gereben Schaefer, lead author of the study and a senior political scientist at RAND.

The study, commissioned by the Pentagon, estimates that between 30 and 140 new hormone treatments a year could be initiated by transgender service members. In addition, there may be 25 to 130 gender transition-related surgeries utilized a year among active service members.

As a result, U.S. military health care costs are expected to increase between $2.4 million and $8.4 million — or a 0.13 percent increase.

Carter said gender reassignment surgery and other treatment deemed “medically necessary” by a physician may be covered in as soon as 90 days.

Transgender men and women seeking to join the military would be required to wait 18 months after transitioning before being accepted.

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