On July 26, 2017 President Donald Trump announced through twitter that he would be putting a ban on allowing transgender people to serve in the military. Donald Trump tweeted that "After consultations with [his] 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 transgender in the military would entail. Thank you".
I believe that this is a very important current event because in my opinion anyone who is willing to give up their time and risk their own life for our country's freedom should be allowed to be active in the military no matter the cost. The ban that Donald Trump is trying to enforce would affect the 1,000 to 6,000 active transgender members of the military as well as any transgender person who wants to join the military.
Links for further information on the topic
https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/07/31/the-4-key-things-you-need-to-know-about-trumps-proposed-ban-on-transgender-military-service/
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2017/07/26/politics/trump-military-transgender/index.html
https://www.usnews.com/opinion/thomas-jefferson-street/articles/2017-07-28/donald-trumps-transgender-military-ban-has-no-justification?context=amp
Questions for discussion
1. Do you think that Donald Trumps ban on transgender members of the military is a gateway to other LGBT related bans and issues?
2. Do you agree with this ban on transgender people being able to serve in the U.S. military? Why or why not?
3. How do you think the LGBT community feels about this ban? How would you feel if you were a current transgender member of the military after hearing of this new ban?
I personally do not agree with Trump's ban on transgender people joining the military. I believe that if you are willing to serve and fight for our country, you should be able to. An article posted by Reuters, "Trump ban on transgender service members alarms some military officers." This article mainly focuses on some senior military officer's opinions on this ban, which were all against Trump. It also describes how Trump was with the LGBT community and was going to help them if he was president, well I guess not. A senior officer said, "Even if this were an order, implementing it legally would take considerable time, if it's even possible." Rights groups and lawmakers from both parties accused Trump of politically motivated discrimination and the decisions creates uncertainty for transgender active-duty service members and reservists. I agree with the groups and lawmakers that it is discrimination.
ReplyDeleteQuestion: What made President Trump make this decision to ban transgender people from the military?
On Wednesday, Trump tweeted out his newest ban which proclaims that transgender soldiers are no longer allowed to serve in the military. His tweet read, "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 transgender in the military would entail. Thank you." This ban was previously lifted by Obama, but Trump feels it would be beneficial to put it back in place. The rationale for his decision is that the military wouldn't be strapped with the tremendous medical costs and there would be less distractions. Are his reasons valid?
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kyle’s opinion; Trumps new ban on transgender people in the military is silly and unpresidential. I believe that Trump’s giving approval to classify people based on their gender identity is certainly a gateway for the rest of America to make degrading comments to the LGBTQ community. According to the Youth Suicide Prevention Program, more than 30% of LGBTQ youth reported at least one suicide attempt within the last year. Also, almost 50% of transgender youth have seriously thought about suicide, and 25% reported that they have made a suicide attempt. Clearly, statistics show that some members of the LGBTQ community already face backlash from society, and this new ban only augments the stress these people endure. In my opinion, if an individual feels that they can contribute to the military and wants to risk their life to help their country, they should be allowed to do so.
According to CNN’s article,“Trump to reinstate US military ban on transgender people”, “White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that transgender service ‘erodes military readiness and unit cohesion’ citing health costs.” This article goes on to say that the move is simply a "military decision" and is "not meant to be anything more than" that. The new ban was said to be based "on what was best for the military" and was made in council with the President's national security team. Although this ban was not established to intentionally punish the LGBTQ communtiy, many politicians argue that it is unjust.
Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Michigan, the vice chair of the congressional LGBT caucus, called Trump's decision a "slap in the face to the thousands of transgender Americans already serving in the military" and said it "undermines our military's readiness. “ Anyone who is willing to put on the uniform of the United States and risk their life in service to our country should be celebrated as patriots, regardless of their gender identity. This short-sighted and discriminatory policy will make America less safe," said Kildee. Trump can also be considered hypocritical due to his speech when he was running for office. At the Republican National Convention on July 21, 2016, Trump said, ”As your president, I will do everything in my power to protect our LGBTQ citizens from the violence and oppression of a hateful foreign ideology. Believe me.” However, he is excluding transgenders from our military simply based on their identity, and this can be considered oppressive by denying them the right to serve in their country’s military.. Some people feel that Trump seized the terrorist attack at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, as an opportunity to reach out to the LGBTQ community and get on their side. "I will tell you who the better friend is and some day I believe that will be proven out big league," Trump said.
In Trump’s tweet, he mentions that the military should not “be burdened with the tremendous medical costs” that the LGBTQ community entails. However, A 2016 Rand Corp. study commissioned by the Defense Department (Source: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR1530.html) concluded that letting transgender individuals serve in the military would not be a huge detriment to health care spending or readiness, mainly because there are so few out of the military's 1.3 million-member force. The study shows that the number of transgender people in the military is between 1,320 and 6,630. According to CNN, “Gender-change surgery is rare in the general population, and the RAND study estimated the possibility of 30 to 140 new hormone treatments a year in the military, with 25 to 130 gender transition-related surgeries among active service members. The cost could range from $2.4 million to $8.4 million, an amount that would represent an "exceedingly small proportion" of total healthcare expenditures, the study found.” Although this is a cost Trump may find unnecessary and wants to avoid, America is a free country. If a transgender individual wants to offer their services, Trump, as the president, should accept that with open arms. Was Trump’s motive for this ban purely to help the military? Do you think he was he biased?
DeleteThe ban seemed very out of the blue. It was as if we woke up one day and suddenly transgendered people were banned from joining the military, and there was an uproar. Reasonably so, though. The transgendered population has the same right to join the U.S. military as anyone else. They are no different from the majority. They're still people, and they're perfectly capable to protect our country. Although there are some additional expenses, they are not drastic, considering the extreme budget that the United States has for our military. Frankly, I believe this was more of an act of transphobia than interest in budget on President Trump's part. As you can see, I'm not in favor of the ban, and I don't believe it was necessary.
ReplyDeleteMy immediate reaction to this repeal is this question, "Why did Donald Trump feel that it was appropriate for him to announce such a serious and significant change in our military on Twitter?" To me this seems very unprofessional. The announcement should have been handled in a much different way, such as a press conference of some sort. This is one of many issues surrounding the announcement. Many are asking, could the banning of transgender citizens from the military indicate the beginning of many more repealed right to come? What's next, transgender people can't hold certain job titles? I believe that this act by Trump was motivated by discriminatory opinions of his. Could it really be a coincidence that President Trump announced this repeal on the exact 69th anniversary of President Truman desegregating the military? I think not. Trump mentions in his brief and unprofessional tweet that transgender people in the military cause "tremendous medical costs" and "disruption". I would like to hear some specific examples of each of these claims. For one, not all transgender people have large medical bills. Also, any disruptions I would assume are altercations between other soldiers. For example, a non-transgender citizen discriminating against a citizen who is transgender. By eliminating transgenders as a whole from the military, Donald Trump is allowing the prejudice citizen to win. This is entirely wrong in my opinion. To me it seems there are not enough reasons, or even one significant reason, for this repeal to be put in place. I can't even imagine how the people affected by this feel not being permitted to fight for their own country.
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