Trump moves to limit transgender individuals from military service

[rooster59]

Trump moves to limit transgender individuals from military service

 

U.S. President Donald Trump walks to Air Force One as he departs for Palm Beach, Florida, from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, U.S., March 23, 2018. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump signed a memorandum on Friday that bans some transgender individuals from serving in the U.S. military, but gives the armed forces latitude in implementing policies.

 

The memorandum said transgender individuals with a history of gender dysphoria, defined as "those who may require substantial medical treatment, including through medical drugs or surgery," are disqualified from military service "except under certain limited circumstances."

 

It added that the secretaries of defense and homeland security "may exercise their authority to implement any appropriate policies concerning military service by transgender individuals."

 

The White House said Defense Secretary Jim Mattis had found that individuals with a history or diagnosis of gender dysphoria presented a risk to military effectiveness.

 

"This 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," it said.

 

Trump's decision is less restrictive than his initial comments in a July Twitter message saying he would prohibit transgender people from military service. That blanket ban reversed former President Barack Obama’s policy.

 

At the time, Trump said on Twitter, the military "cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail."

 

A number of federal judges have issued rulings blocking Trump's ban, saying it would probably violate the right, under the U.S. Constitution, to equal protection under the law.

 

On Friday, the Pentagon reaffirmed that it would continue to comply with federal law.

 

"(The Pentagon) will continue to assess and retain transgender service members," Pentagon spokesman Major David Eastburn said.

 

In a February memorandum to the White House, Mattis said transgender individuals with a history of gender dysphoria were disqualified from military service.

 

But he added that those currently serving could continue to serve if they had been diagnosed with gender dysphoria since Obama's policy took effect.

 

The memorandum said 8,980 Service members reportedly identify as transgender, but only 937 active duty service members were diagnosed with gender dysphoria since June 30, 2016.

 

At least one openly transgender recruit has already signed a contract to join the U.S. military since a federal court ruled late last year that the military would have to accept transgender individuals.

 

Advocates have said they believe dozens, if not hundreds, of transgender people will seek to join those already serving.

 

The Human Rights Campaign, a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advocacy group, condemned the Trump policy.

 

"There is simply no way to spin it, the Trump-Pence administration is going all in on its discriminatory, unconstitutional and despicable ban on transgender troops," Chad Griffin, its president, said in a statement.

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-03-24

[HLover]

But he never served... interesting.

[Jingthing]

Hopefully, this bigoted move will be ruled unconstitutional. 

"trump" is a bully in so many ways. 

Bash transgender people, his base loves it. That's all this is about -- stoking his anti-LGBT civil rights / "evangelical" base.

 

Quote

Trump’s Trans Troops Ban Will Never Take Effect
...
Yet behind the scenes, a “panel of experts” has been crafting a report, also released on Friday, designed to provide pretextual justification for Trump’s ban. According to multiple sources, Vice President Mike Pence played a leading role in the creation of this report, along with Ryan Anderson, an anti-trans activist, and Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council, an anti-LGBTQ lobbying group. Mattis actually supports open transgender service, but he was effectively overruled by Pence, and chose not to spend his limited political capital further defending trans troops.

 

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/03/trumps-new-trans-troops-ban-is-still-unconstitutional.html

Edited March 24, 2018 by Jingthing

[farcanell]

14 hours ago, rooster59 said:

The memorandum said transgender individuals with a history of gender dysphoria, defined as "those who may require substantial medical treatment, including through medical drugs or surgery," are disqualified from military service "except under certain limited circumstances."

Given that “flat feet” used to disqualify men from serving, this ain’t so bad.... 

who really wants to follow confused people into a firefight?

for once... trump gets my support.

[Scott]

Inflammatory post removed. 

[Jingthing]

20 minutes ago, farcanell said:

Given that “flat feet” used to disqualify men from serving, this ain’t so bad.... 

who really wants to follow confused people into a firefight?

for once... trump gets my support.

Flat feet is a physical limitation. Transgender isn't.

[HLover]

2 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Flat feet is a physical limitation. Transgender isn't.

How about: I am rich so <deleted> service during the Vietnam 'conflict'?

[Thakkar]

 

The signing of this memorandum, sandwiched between the omnibus bill (in which he DIDN’T get the wall he had demanded) and the Stormy Danials 60 minutes interview, is a distraction. He doesn’t care that it upends thousands of lives.

He’s that psychotic teen, returning home late, who’d kill the family dog to stop its barks from alerting his parents that he’d broken curfew.

 

And, as usual with Trump, there is a tweet that shows him up for the hypocrite he is. From June, 2016:

 

[PhonThong]

I think some of you are confusing the Military with a democracy. It is not and never has been. 

[Thakkar]

22 hours ago, rooster59 said:

individuals with a history or diagnosis of gender dysphoria presented a risk to military effectiveness.

 

Mostly, the only way to know this is if they tell you. Now, those who really want a career in the military, simply won’t tell. This potentially opens them up to blackmail. So now something that wasn’t a threat to national security, now *becomes* one.

 

Rosevelt in 1940:

“At this time and this time only, we dare not confuse the issue of prompt preparedness with a new social experiment however important and desirable it may be.”

 

That “social experiment?” —desegregation in the military. 

 

The Army figured out how to make that work. They figured out how to integrate women, they’d also figured out how to integrate trans people.

[Thakkar]

18 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Bash transgender people, his base loves it. That's all this is about -- stoking his anti-LGBT civil rights / "evangelical" base.

 

You’re not wrong. The fact that this comes a day before the Stormy Daniels interview airing on 60 minutes that risks costing him support with evangelicals makes it suspiciously coincidental.

[pedro01]

19 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Hopefully, this bigoted move will be ruled unconstitutional. 

"trump" is a bully in so many ways. 

Bash transgender people, his base loves it. That's all this is about -- stoking his anti-LGBT civil rights / "evangelical" base.

 

 

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/03/trumps-new-trans-troops-ban-is-still-unconstitutional.html

 

Smart move.

 

It's just really denying them on medical grounds. They do need a lot of treatment - why should the tax payer bear that? 

 

It's just common sense. These people have major issues. A really high rate of suicide - and no - not because they aren't allowed in the army - but because they have this ailment of gender dysphoria.

 

Nobody is being bashed here. That's just how the LGBTQ community want to put it - to be the eternal victims all the time. Well - the MAJORITY don't buy into victim culture.

 

Common sense still applies for now, and there's a plethora of ailments that will prevent you from signing up. Partly because people with certain ailments don't make good soldiers and partly because the armies budget is needed elsewhere. 

[pedro01]

8 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Flat feet is a physical limitation. Transgender isn't.

 

No - it's a mental condition/disorder.

 

Plenty of other reasons for not being allowed in too: https://www.military.com/join-armed-forces/disqualifiers-medical-conditions.html

 

It is ludicrous to imply that this is an attach on Transgenders. It is not, it is simply a rational reason for not being allowed to serve, that is very much in line with hundreds of other reasons in the above list.

 

If that list just had bans on TGs - it would be right to say they are being singled out. 

[farcanell]

9 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Flat feet is a physical limitation. Transgender isn't. 

To be honest, I’m not really sure what flat feet are....

 

But..... IMO, (and trumps, which is scary),  disqualifying .... “those who may require substantial medical treatment, including through medical drugs or surgery”... seems appropriate

 

hell... if I was the employer, I wouldn’t give them a job, if I (or my insurer) was going to have to foot the bill for substantial surgery or drugs, on top of time off for surgery and recovery, plus phycological councelling and then the cost of integration, or re integration with the work force as a whole.

 

And... transgender dysmorpia is a clinical term for the distress caused by being a man, when you think your a girl... or vice versus, I suppose, which indicates a problem in the brainbox. I’m all for disqualifying people with brainbox problems, too... any brainbox problems

 

I honestly have no personal issue or aversion towards folk because of sexual persuasion, assignment, taste or however it should be termed, I just don’t think that the military is the right vocation for them.

[Scott]

Troll post and reply removed.   

[Jingthing]

I think the latest news is that the courts are NOT blocking this. Oh well. Sorry for the good Americans that volunteer to serve and disgusted by the hate base massaging anti-LGBT bigotry coming from the "trump" white house.

 

Quote

 

Trump’s transgender troop ban is as insidious as ever

Transgender advocates are right to call this a case of reverse engineering, with a process designed to reach the president’s announced conclusion. Consider that the administration did not name the members of the so-called expert panel that is said to have studied this issue and Mr. Mattis did not answer questions about it, citing pending litigation. Groups such as the American Psychological Association and two former U.S. surgeons general have assailed the report as distorting scientific research. Also striking is that the Rand Corp., which studied this issue in 2016 before the Obama administration lifted a previous ban, reached a different conclusion: namely, that allowing transgender people to serve in the military would “have minimal impact on readiness and health care costs” for the Pentagon.

 

 

 

http://www.paywallnews.com/life/Opinion-|-Trump’s-transgender-troop-ban-is-as-insidious-as-ever.SknQrkPTjY9f.html

 

Edited March 29, 2018 by Jingthing

[Expatthailover]

A man who shirked and avoided his military conscription via daddy's dosh is wholly unsuited to comment on people who have the spine to volunteer and enlist to do military service.

Shame on you trump.