Tuesday, April 02, 2019

Yesterday…

I did two guest lectures at a local university, after one of the class a student came up to me and said that she is a veteran and she severed alongside trans servicemembers and that she thinks the trans ban is wrong.
I've treated transgender troops for years. Trump is wrong to ban them from the military.
Trump's opposition to transgender soldiers is morally wrong and factually inaccurate. They aren't costly, and it's his ban that would be disruptive.
USA Today
Jack Turco, Opinion contributor
April 2, 2019

Starting next week, transgender troops will be permitted to enlist and serve in the military only if they remain their "biological sex.” The new Department of Defense policy follows the Supreme Court‘s January decision that upheld the Trump administration's partial ban on transgender individuals serving openly in the military while challenges to the ban continue to be heard in lower courts.

Trump announced the ban in July 2017 on Twitter: “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.”

As a practicing endocrinologist, I saw my first transgender patient over three decades ago. Since then, I have had the honor of being involved in the medical care of more than 500 transgender patients, including some who have served in the U.S. military. That experience has convinced me that transgender men and women can serve our military with honor and excellence.
[…]
A ban is what would disrupt the military
The RAND study also focused on whether transgender soldiers would be a “disruption” if added to active duty by looking at nearly 20 countries that allow openly transgender personnel to serve in their militaries. The study concluded that "in no case was there any evidence of an effect on the operational effectiveness, operational readiness, or cohesion of the force."

In addition, in August 2017, the Palm Center released a letter signed by 56 retired generals and admirals, opposing the proposed ban on transgender military service members. The letter stated that if implemented, the ban "would cause significant disruptions, deprive the military of mission-critical talent, and compromise the integrity of transgender troops who would be forced to live a lie, as well as nontransgender peers who would be forced to choose between reporting their comrades or disobeying policy."
Everyone but Trump and his bigoted cronies are against the ban. It is the religious right-wing that Trump is catering to for votes.

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