LGBT advocacy groups have spoken out against the White House’s directive to carry out President Trump’s transgender military ban. The unprecedented policy indefinitely extends the ban on qualified transgender recruits from entering the military and rips away at least some medically necessary, transition-related health care from currently serving transgender troops.
“This horrifying, vicious assault on thousands of actively serving troops has turned from reckless tweets into an unabashedly discriminatory policy aiming to purge the military of thousands of transgender men and women,” said AMPA President Ashley Broadway-Mack. “We unequivocally condemn this ban as an unpatriotic attack on currently serving troops and qualified transgender recruits who want to serve their country. It is imperative that Congress immediately takes action or a judge issues an injunction stopping this unprecedented assault from moving forward.”
SPARTA, the largest organization of transgender Americans serving in the U.S. Armed Forces, released the following statement:
“As transgender service members, we are and have always been soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen first. We serve our country honorably, in good faith.
“Transgender service members are currently deployed to various locations around the world in defense of our Nation. The average transgender service member has eight years of service and served two or more deployments. Deployments are a staple of military life. Transgender service members have shown they are fully capable of doing the job they are called upon to do, and so we will continue until directed otherwise.”
GLAAD tweeted the following in response to the developments:
Since June 2016, the Department of Defense has allowed transgender members of the armed forces to serve openly and authentically. Estimates show there are thousands of transgender individuals currently serving in the military. Implementation of the open service policy involved more than a year of planning, and the President’s decision to change the policy without formal review is the definition of arbitrary and capricious.
The people motivating this purge are the same people who have opposed LGBT equality in every corner of American life. Their end goal is to deny the reality that LGBT people exist by forcing them out of any place where they might be visible, and there is nothing that better communicates the commitment of LGBT people to American values than openly serving in the military.
The far majority of Americans believe transgender people should be allowed to serve, and the bipartisan outrage over the President’s ban has been swift and severe. Fifty-sex retired generals and admirals warned that the ban, if implemented, would degrade military readiness. On Friday, more than 50 House Armed Services, Judiciary, and LGBT Equality Caucus Democrats urged Secretary Mattis and the Joint Chiefs of Staff not to comply with an unconstitutional ban.
