Tag: transgender military

The Secretary of Defense, Jim Mattis, has issued new guidance regarding current transgender military service members allowing them to re-enlist over the next several months.

On July 26, Donald Trump surprised military leaders with a tweet demanding that all transgender military be banned from service. Trump gave Mattis six months to figure out the details.

It seems current trans service member may be allowed to remain on duty past the six month mark.

Via Military.com:

In a memo to top military leaders, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said a high-level panel will determine how to implement Trump’s ban on transgender individuals in the military. Trump directed the military to indefinitely extend the ban on transgender individuals enlisting in the service, but he left it up to Mattis to decide if those currently serving should be allowed to stay.

Members of Congress have already sent a letter to Trump calling on him to reconsider the ban.

Sen. John McCain, the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Friday he backed legislation that would bar the Trump administration from forcing transgender troops out of the armed forces.

McCain of Arizona said in a statement that any service member, including those who are transgender, who meets the standards for military readiness and medical fitness should be permitted to serve.

“When less than 1 percent of Americans are volunteering to join the military, we should welcome all those who are willing and able to serve our country,” McCain said.

The memo was released the same day Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) introduced bipartisan legislation, co-sponsored by Sens. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) Susan Collins (R-Maine) and John McCain (R-Ariz.), which seeks to block Trump’s transgender military ban.

Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (L) and Susan Collins (R)

A bipartisan amendment from Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) has been introduced that would effectively stop President Donald Trump from implementing his proposed ban on transgender military service members.

The senators have attached the amendment to the annual National Defense Authorization Act that funds the military. Even though the NDAA is a “must-pass” bill, there’s no guarantee the amendment will get a vote.

The amendment would ban the military from booting transgender soldiers purely for the reason they are transgender.

Senator Gillibrand, the ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel, said in a joint statement: “Any individual who wants to join our military and meets the standards should be allowed to serve, period. Gender identity should have nothing to do with it. I am proud to work with Senator Collins to introduce our bipartisan amendment to protect transgender members of our Armed Forces, and I will always fight for our brave transgender troops who put their lives on the line to protect our country.”

Senator Collins added: “Our armed forces should welcome the service of any qualified individual who is willing and capable of serving our country. If individuals are willing to put on the uniform of our country, be deployed in war zones, and risk their lives for our freedoms, then we should be expressing our gratitude to them, not trying to exclude them from military service.”

You’ll recall that Donald Trump initially said “his generals” told him to ban trans soldiers from the U.S. military.

Well, “his generals” just told him to hit pause.

Putting the brakes on Trump’s proposed ban on transgender folks in the U.S. military, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis announced today that there will be no change in the current policy regarding transgender soldiers serving in the military until he has a chance to review the results of a study by experts.

From USA Today:

The announcement follows an order from President Trump — first announced in a tweet — declaring that transgender service members can no longer serve in the military, effectively reversing an Obama administration policy. The order also affects the Department of Homeland Security, which houses the Coast Guard.

“Once the panel reports its recommendations and following my consultation with the secretary of Homeland Security, I will provide my advice to the president concerning implementation of his policy direction,” Mattis said in the statement. “In the interim, current policy with respect to currently serving members will remain in place.”

Mattis’ move buys time for the Pentagon to determine how and if it will allow thousands of transgender troops to continue to serve, whether they will receive medical treatment, or how they will be discharged.

Lambda Legal and OutServe-SLDN announced today they have filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Trump administration’s ban on military service by transgender individuals.

Via press release:

The lawsuit — brought in response to President Trump’s formal issuance of directions to military authorities late Friday — was filed on behalf of two individuals who seek to join the military; one current service member who seeks appointment as an officer; the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBT advocacy organization; and Gender Justice League, a gender and sexuality civil and human rights organization, headquartered in Seattle.

“This ban not only wrongfully prevents patriotic, talented Americans from serving, it also compromises the safety and security of our country,” Lambda Legal Senior Attorney Peter Renn said. “Thousands of current service members are transgender, and many have been serving openly, courageously and successfully in the U.S. military for more than a year—not to mention the previous decades when many were forced to serve in silence. Once again attacking a vulnerable population based on bias, political opportunism and demonstrably untrue ‘alternative facts,’ President Trump is denying brave men and women the opportunity to serve our country without any legitimate justification whatsoever.”

“We promised that we would sue if the president took this action. The law is on our side; justice is on our side,” said Peter Perkowski, Legal Director for OutServe-SLDN. “And we are on the side of every single transgender service member and those who want to serve. The nation’s courts exist to protect the people whom tyrants would otherwise abuse. Trump can’t tweet his way out of this one.”

A second lawsuit was filed in federal court in Maryland by the American Civil Liberties Union and the D.C.-based law firm Covington & Burling LLP.

From the Washington Blade:

The plaintiffs in that lawsuit, Stone v. Trump, are five transgender troops currently in the military representing each of the military branches: Petty Officer First Class Brock Stone, Senior Airman John Doe, Airman First Class Seven Ero George, Petty Officer First Class Teagan Gilbert, and Marine Corps Technical Sergeant Tommie Parker.

Stone, the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit, has served in the U.S. Navy for nine years, including a nine-month deployment to Afghanistan. According to the lawsuit, Stone was awarded an achievement medal for his deployment as well as multiple other commendations, including a flag letter of commendation and multiple recommendations for early promotion.

The ACLU lawsuit contends every component of Trump’s ban “singles out transgender service members for different treatment” amounting to sex discrimination, which is subject to, and fails, heightened scrutiny under the Fifth Amendment.

President Trump has officially signed a presidential memo today instructing the Department of Defense to stop accepting new transgender recruits who wish to enroll in the military.

The move is a reversal of an Obama-era plan to allow transgender folks to serve openly in the U.S. military.

From The Hill:

The memo details Trump’s previous Twitter announcement last month that he would reinstate a ban on transgender people serving in the U.S. military, and officially requests the Pentagon begin implementing the ban.

Trump’s memo bars transgender people from enlisting, but instructs Secretary of Defense James Mattis to further explore how to handle transgender people currently serving in the armed forces.

The memo also orders the Pentagon to stop paying for gender reassignment surgeries, except in cases that are already in progress to “protect the health of an individual.”

It also requests that the Pentagon develop an implementation plan for the ban by Feb. 21 2018, to be put in place on March 23, 2018.

On a call with reporters prior to the memo’s release, a White House official said Trump “spoke passionately” about the freedoms of the LGBT community, but based the policy on a “series of national security considerations,” according to reports.

Trump’s guidelines instruct the Defense and Homeland Security departments “to determine how to address transgender individuals currently serving based on military effectiveness and lethality, unitary cohesion, budgetary constraints, applicable law, and all factors that may be relevant,” a White House official said.

While Trump’s initial surprise tweet called for the ban for financial reasons, we all know now that the real reason is a group of GOP lawmakers who threatened to torpedo financing for his wall along the Mexican border if he didn’t acquiesce to their demands that he eject trans military members.

The Rand Corporation estimates medical costs for trans military members to be at most $8.4 million a year.

At the same time, the Department of Defense reportedly for male service members with erectile dysfunction.

Think on that for a minute – $41 million for limp penises is ok, but $8 million for capable trans soldiers is a bridge too far.

According to the latest poll from Quinnipiac University, 68% of Americans say transgender people should be allowed to serve in the U.S. military; 27% oppose the idea.

Additionally, a new report shows it could cost around $960 million to kick transgender people out of the the U.S. military. That means, in terms of lost training and replacement, over 100x the cost of medical treatments.

Put another way, it will take over 100 years to “break even” on the costs of kicking out transgender military service members.