by Kamdin Montagne | May 25, 2018 3:02 pm
President Donald Trump shocked the country on July 26th when he 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 burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgenders in the military would entail. Thank you. ”
In this brief yet bold statement, Trump said that the military will no longer accept transgender applicants for the armed forces, but it doesn’t explain what will happen to the 15,000 transgender people serving in our military today.
The tweet received immediate backlash from the public. Active transgender service members have filed a solid lawsuit against Trump’s ban. They argue that the restriction of transgender people in the military is not only unconstitutional but also threatens the safety of the United States by holding back Americans from serving.
EHS teacher and former Navy member Julia Wagoner also had something to say when asked about her first reaction to the tweet. “My first reaction? I was ticked. A man who has not served a single day in uniform and has deferred a Vietnam draft five times has no right telling a citizen that they are not fit enough to be in the United States military,” Wagoner said. “ If somebody is willing to sign their name on a dotted line and die for my freedom, I could care less if they are male, female, or in transition. — Navy veteran Julia Wagoner
Trump says his reasoning for the ban is that “our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgenders in the military would entail.” However, only between 29 and 129 of the transgender people serving in the military pursue medical transition treatments. So if expense was the issue, why couldn’t Trump just discontinue the payments for such treatments? Why did the president go so far as to completely take away the choice to join the military from an entire population of people?
While this question may not be answered right now, we can only hope that our country and its government will see its error and the unlawful ban will be revoked shortly. The transgender military ban introduced by President Trump is completely unconstitutional and a total slap in the face to the LGBTQ community that has worked so hard to receive the rights they have today.
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