Trump to ban transgenders from all military service
US President Donald Trump says any military service would be banned for transgender people.
He said on Twitter Wednesday that he made the decision after discussing the matter with "my generals and military experts."
"After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the US Military," he said.
Trump further suggested that they would be a burden on the US military.
"Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Thank you," he tweeted, marking a shift in the US military’s policy.
It is not clear how much the US military is really involved in the matter since Defense Secretary James Mattis was on as Trump made the announcement.
“We will continue to work closely with the White House to address the new guidance provided by the Commander-in-Chief on transgender individuals serving the military,” Navy Captain Jeff Davis said. “We will provide revised guidance to the Department in the near future.”
The decision was decried by Republican Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who has a transgender son.
"No American, no matter their sexual orientation or gender identity, should be prohibited from honor + privilege of serving our nation #LGBT," she tweeted.
Former Secretary of State John Kerry also appeared in defense of the transgender community by slamming the surprise decision.
“America has always been strongest when we find a place for everyone willing to lay down their life to serve,” Kerry said, as a part of a series of tweets. "Harry Truman didn't break down barriers with an executive order just to have [Trump] try and build them back up via a tweet. Nothing about today’s announcement is in line with our nation’s values. Nor is this decision in line with America's traditional role setting standard for other countries to treat people with dignity… Instead, this is just conjuring up fake excuses to discriminate/distract. We’re better than this."
There were also those who praised the move, stating it serves the military best.
“President Trump’s decision today to rescind Obama’s transgender military policy has the best interests of the military in mind, and I thank him for taking this decisive action,” Republican Representative Vicky Jo Hartzler said in a statement.
In the wake of a 2016 shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Trump had vowed to “fight for” them, including the approximately 250 transgender people openly serving in the US military.
“Thank you to the LGBT community! I will fight for you while Hillary brings in more people that will threaten your freedoms and beliefs,” he said.
Under pressure to explain the reasoning behind the new decision, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders threatened to end the on-camera session and “call it a day.”
"If those are the only questions we have, I'm going to call it a day," Sanders said "The president has expressed concerns since this Obama policy came into effect… But he's also voiced that this is a very expensive and disruptive policy, and based on consultation that he's had with his national security team, came to the conclusion that it erodes military readiness and unit cohesion made the decision based on that."
The money US military spent on erectile dysfunction in 2014 is reportedly 10 times more than the amount spent on transgenders.
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