President Donald Trump released a series of surprise tweets this morning calling
for a complete ban on transgender people serving in the military in any capacity.
I'm Adam Bozarth, and welcome back to What's Trending. President Trump tweeted,
"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 U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on
decisive and overwhelming..... ....victory and cannot be burden would be tremendous
medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail.
Thank you." Well, in his first tweet Trump fails to mention any of these military
advisors by name, and that's because Trump never spoke to anybody who was
studying this issue. According to the New York Times, "Officials at the Pentagon
were caught off guard. They had been studying ... how transgender troops in the
military affect other service members, but not with a view toward removing
transgender people from the military, several defense officials said." in his
second tweet, he is unequivocal that transgender individuals have no place in
the American military. We tried a similar policy in the military called "Don't Ask,
Don't Tell," and it went horribly. Though it prevented military officials from
discriminating against homosexuals, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell,"
kept many servicemen and women in the closet while they were serving. If their
sexuality was discovered, even in a case of sexual assault, LGBTQ soldiers were
removed from military service and left without any help. Trump's Trans Ban also
reverses a decision made by the Pentagon last year allowing trans people to serve
openly in the military. In fact, the Pentagon's statement at the time was "These
Are The Kind of People We Want." Obama's Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said, "The
Department of Defense needs to avail ourselves of all talent possible, in
order to remain what we are now: the finest fighting force the world has ever
known," ... "We have to have access to 100% 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." Carter also noted, that transgender
Americans are also "already serving in uniform today."
Trump's argument is that trans soldiers are just too expensive to employ and
they are a disruption, but how disruptive are trans soldiers? Well, let's ask the
vets! @CJ_Santucci tweets, "I served with a #trans sailor in the Navy. He was
always squared away, hard working, and 100% reliable. Conversely, Trump has never
served." @Enuff_Said writes, "I served with many Trans Soldiers and never had
any issue, in fact I only dealt with sexual harassment and degrading behavior
from non-Trans." "150,000 transgender Americans have served the U.S. military, my
aunt was one of them... I stand with trans and LGBTQ community." So, are trans people
actually that much more expensive to treat medically? Well, let's ask a trans
vet! Former military intelligence officer Chelsea Manning tweeted, "So, biggest
baddest most dollar sign, dollar sign military on earth cries about a few
trans people but funds the F-35? Sounds like cowardice." That's good... what's the
F-35? The Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jet is the most expensive military
project ever. The jet barely works, the project is almost 10 years behind
schedule, and has cost taxpayers over $163 billion
in sunk costs. And the "medical expenses" that Trump is referring to is the
military's new policy of providing gender reassignment surgery. The policy
was enacted in October of 2016, and only provides soldiers with reassignment
surgery if it is deemed a medical necessity. Chelsea Manning was a
recipient of one of the first reassignment surgeries provided by the
military. The Pentagon estimates that this service would cost between 3
and 8 million dollars per year. For the amount of money that they have
wasted on the F-35 project alone, the Pentagon could provide reassignment
surgeries for the next 2,000 years. Chelsea tweets, "Today is a further reason
we should dismantle the bloated and dangerous military/intel/police
state to fund #healthcare for all." I mean, call me crazy, but medicine is
probably a better thing to buy than a plane full of guns that doesn't work. I
mean, I don't even have a pilot's license. Many people are upset that the president
would make such a discriminatory announcement. Andy Cohen responds, "Are you
TRYING to be an asshole?" George Takei writes, "History shall record that you are
not only the stupidest, most incompetent president ever, but also the cruelest and
pettiest. #Shame" And Trump supporter Caitlyn Jenner says, "There are
15,000 patriotic transgender Americans in the U.S. military fighting for all of
us. What happened to your promise to fight for them?"
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