Late Friday night, President Trump pushed his proposed ban on transgender people from serving in the U.S. Military following a Pentagon review of his prior proposal. According to a new memorandum drafted by the White House on the matter, the new polices state “that transgender persons with a history or diagnosis of gender dysphoria,” especially those who “may require substantial medical treatment, including medications and surgery,” will be “disqualified from military service except under certain limited circumstances.”
Defense Secretary James Mattis, who froze Trump’s initial proposal in August so that an ongoing study could be completed, and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen agreed with the review’s conclusions and thought the ban “should be adopted” by their respective departments. As Politico notes, this marks a significant departure from many military leaders’ response to Trump’s first ban, as they “[went] out of their way to defend the thousands of transgender troops who are believed to be serving in the military.” Even the Joint Chiefs of Staff came out against it at the time.
Celebrities, former politicians, and members of the U.S. military also protested the initial ban. Even so, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders on Friday said the “new policy will enable the military to apply well-established mental and physical health standards… equally to all individuals who want to join and fight for the best military force the world has ever seen.” Both her statement and Trump’s memorandum seemingly put the impetus on the mental health and well-being of the armed forces, though at the expense of its transgender members. Needless to say, people are not happy.
Banning transgender men and women from serving in our military is based on nothing more than bigotry. To all of the brave trans troops in uniform today, please know that this President does not speak for a country eternally grateful for your service. #ProtectTransTroops
— Joe Kennedy III (@joekennedy) March 24, 2018
There is no legitimate reason to ban transgender troops. Period.
— Demi Lovato (@ddlovato) March 24, 2018
11/ Transgender people are not going anywhere. We will not be erased. We will not yield an assessment of our humanity and patriotism to treasonous cowards. And mark my words: we will prevail. November is coming. /thread
— Charlotte Clymer 🇺🇦 (@cmclymer) March 24, 2018
The bottom line is that they are trying to argue —without any supporting evidence — that most transgender people have a psychological problem. Sounds like BS. Instead we need to look at psychological fitness to serve in the military from the top down, stating with …
— Richard W. Painter (@RWPUSA) March 24, 2018
I just want my transgender siblings to know that they are loved and that this POS president is the actual scum of the earth
— laura dreyfuss (@lauradreyfuss) March 24, 2018
Boy, this transgender ban is going to get conservatives to forget you signed the biggest spending bill ever and Sunday’s 60 Minutes interview. #DeflectionDon https://t.co/eqSWZedbLV
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) March 24, 2018
Does this mollify you after he signed the budget bill, angry right-wingers? That's his impulsive, pathetic intent. https://t.co/kMWGQOJKKX
— Kurt Andersen (@KBAndersen) March 24, 2018
The ACLU reminded everyone that it had sued Trump over his proposed ban from July, which was summarily struck down by a federal court in October.
BREAKING: The Department of Defense announced its plan tonight to implement President Trump’s directive to ban transgender service members from serving in the military.
That directive has been blocked by federal courts in four separate cases, including our case, Stone v. Trump.
— ACLU (@ACLU) March 24, 2018
Meanwhile, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra declared his state “[will] take every measure available to prevent [Trump’s] discriminatory action that harms or marginalizes transgender servicemembers (sic).”
#California will take every measure available to prevent @realdonaldtrump's discriminatory action that harms or marginalizes transgender servicemembers — or any other transgender Americans who wish to courageously defend our nation. https://t.co/XmgpajcGRF
— Archive – Attorney General Becerra (@AGBecerra) March 24, 2018