There have been consequences from Trump’s attack on trans servicemembers, states have stood up against the ban, it affected student scholarships, medical care, and the list goes on and on.
The ban also set far ranging prescient in the future leaders can ban marginalized communities for political reasons. For an example he could ban Muslims from serving by claiming they are a security risk.
This is bad for us and bad for the nation.
California National Guard tells transgender troops: 'Your gender identity is the least of our concerns'
The Hill
By Aris Folley
April 12, 2019
Maj. Gen. Matthew Beevers, one of the California National Guard's highest ranking officers, said that the gender identity of his soldiers "is the least of our concerns," shortly after the Trump administration's policy barring most transgender people from serving in the military took effect on Friday.
Beevers, who serves as assistant adjutant general for the California National Guard, told The Hill that the state guard's leadership believes that the policy has enough opportunities for exceptions and waivers and that it still has "the opportunity to continue to bring transgender service members in as long as they meet the requirements for service."
"Anybody who is willing and able to serve state [and] nation should have the opportunity to serve. It's unconscionable in my mind that we would fundamentally discriminate against a certain class of people based on their gender identity," Beevers said. "That should be the absolute least of our worries."
UT freshman loses military scholarship because he is transgender
The Daily Texan
By Emily Hernandez
April 16, 2019
Map Pesqueira said he came to UT to pursue his dream of becoming a filmmaker and serving in the army. He was awarded a national three-year Reserve Officers’ Training Corps scholarship to help fund his studies.
However, Pesqueira is a transgender man, and under President Donald Trump’s new policy banning transgender people from serving in the military, effective last Friday, Pesqueira is not allowed to serve in the military. Therefore, the U.S. Department of Defense voided his scholarship, Pesqueira said. He may not be able to continue his education at UT because he cannot afford it.
[…]
Lieutenant colonel Matthew O’Neill, UT’s army ROTC department chair and Pesqueira’s military science professor, tried to salvage Pesqueira’s scholarship by attempting to get Pesqueira “grandfathered” under the Pentagon’s 2016 policy, which lifted the ban on transgender people serving openly in the military, Pesqueira said. O’Neill declined to comment for the story, saying The Daily Texan must refer questions to the Defense Department, which did not respond to a request for comment.
Transgender soldier says Trump administration ban hurts American readiness
MassLive
By Carolyn Robbins | Special to The Republican
April 3, 2019
SPRINGFIELD — A soldier is a soldier, no matter the gender, according to Staff Sgt. First Class Karen Kendra Holmes, who was born 62 years ago in Silver Springs, Maryland as Tony Holmes.
[…]
She argued that President Donald Trump’s ban on transgenders in the military is a policy will rob the nation of thousands of talented and committed people who want to serve their country.
Holmes, now a U.S. Government Safety Officer and member of the U.S. Veterans Reserve Corps, said Trump’s position that transgenders in the military adversely affects readiness is wrong.
How The Trump Administration's Transgender Troop Ban Is Affecting One Military FamilyThere is no legitimate reason to ban trans troops and the ban is going to affect so many people beside trans people.
NPR All Things Considered
By Lauren Hodges and Ailsa Chang
April 11, 2019
That's when the Trump administration's new policy on transgender military service takes effect. It effectively bans transgender people from joining the military. The more than 14,000 already serving will be allowed to do so openly, so long as they have that formal diagnosis of gender dysphoria filed by the deadline. If not, they must serve under the gender assigned them at birth - or leave the armed forces.
[…]
So why not take that potential elsewhere? Leave the military for a job where the policy doesn't affect B and their family?
"I have so much invested in the military," says B. "The reasons why I joined haven't changed...I joined right after September 11th. That had a profound impact on me and my ability to give back," adding that the military is where they found purpose.
The ban also set far ranging prescient in the future leaders can ban marginalized communities for political reasons. For an example he could ban Muslims from serving by claiming they are a security risk.
This is bad for us and bad for the nation.
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