VP Mike Pence Behind Latest Anti-Trans Military Ban

Vice President Mike Pence (L) with Donald Trump

Last Friday, the White House issued its official plan to remove transgender service members from the U.S. military.

Attached to the plan was a "report" from the Defense Department as well as a memo signed by Defense Secretary James Mattis

It now appears the "report" actually came from anti-LGBT Vice President Mike Pence and anti-trans activists.

From LGBTQ Nation:

Multiple sources told Slate that Mike Pence “played a leading role in the creation of this report,” along with anti-transgender activists Ryan Anderson and Tony Perkins.

Anderson works at the right wing Heritage Foundation and recently wrote When Harry Became Sally, a book that claims that being transgender is a mental illness based on the narratives of “ex-transgender” people. Perkins works for the Family Research Council, an SPLC designated hate group.

Another source told Think Progress that the report was a product of a “working group” led by Pence that produced a report with different conclusions from Mattis’s committee report. The source said that Pence “overruled” Mattis’s report, but did not explain exactly what that meant.

Sources for Slate said that Mattis chose not to spend “political capital” fighting Pence on this issue.

Pence has long supported virulently anti-LGBT positions and policies from opposing same-sex marriage and gays in the military to supporting so-called "ex-gay therapy."

Even though major medical organizations like the American Medical Association and the American Psychological Association affirm that transitioning is an effective treatment for gender dysphoria, the Pence report does not discuss either association's positions.

Last week, a federal judge asked Donald Trump to provide a list of the "experts" Trump said he "consulted with" before issuing his haphazard policy change via Twitter last summer. Team Trump refused citing executive privilege.

The ban on transgender military members is currently being blocked via injunctions from four different federal courts.

Make no mistake, @realDonaldTrump and @mike_pence’s discriminatory ban on transgender troops is unconstitutional. #ProtectTransTroops pic.twitter.com/lqlY6MzWos

— Human Rights Campaign (@HRC) March 27, 2018