In a fresh development that will definitely come as a blow to the transgender community in the country, United States President Donald Trump announced today that the country's military forces will not hire trans people in any capacity. The President made the announcement with a series of Tweets and went on to state that the decision had been made after consultations with military experts, as well as generals.
A setback for trans people
The Obama administration laid the foundation to allow transgender people to work in the United States Military but Donald Trump reversed that decision today.
Trump stated in his tweets that he had been involved in meetings with military experts, as well as generals, and following those meetings, the United States government decided that Transgender People will not be employed by the military in any capacity.
Trump explained the move by stating that the medical costs will be too high for the government and it will eventually prove to be disruptive. Trump tweeted, “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.” The military is supposed to update its medical records tomorrow. Needless to say, it comes as a huge setback for transgender people, who had harbored hopes of serving the United States military.
After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow......
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2017
....Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming.....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2017
....victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Thank you
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2017
Delay in implementation
Retired General Jim Mattis delayed the implementation of Obama's missive by six months, and at the time he stated that the delay did not "presupposes the outcome” in any way at all.
However, his statement last month on the issue was far more revealing in regard to his thoughts on employing transgender people in the military. Mattis said that all policy decisions must ultimately take into account whether it affects the readiness of the armed forces. He went on to say, "Put another way, how will the decision affect the ability of America’s military to defend the nation?"
The military had opened the pathway for transgender people to be employed in the US military and Defense Secretary Ashton B.
Carter provided them with a one year window to figure out how to implement the new policy. However, the Trump administration has shut the door on the possibility of transgender people working in the military in any capacity. The fact that transgender people have been banned from working in any capacity in the military is perhaps a bit galling.
