The White House is close to finalizing guidelines that will allow Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to begin expelling transgender military service members per Donald Trump's orders.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Mattis will have six months to implement the new anti-transgender policy.
The ban's focus will consider deployability - whether or not the service member can serve in war zones.
The guidelines also include orders to cease paying for any medical expenses related to transgender men and women and denying enlistment to trans men and women in the future.
Shannon Minter, legal director at the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), which together with GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) filed a federal lawsuit challenging Trump’s attempt to reinstate a transgender military ban, issued the following statement in response:
“The President’s willingness to attack his own troops is unprecedented and poses a serious threat to our nation’s longstanding commitment to honor those who serve and to prioritize military readiness over politics.
This ban needlessly takes aim at our courageous transgender servicemembers. This is not who we want to become: a country so committed to baseless discrimination that we are willing to sacrifice even our national security.”
According to reports, Trump took aim at trans service members when a group of conservative lawmakers threatened to torpedo funding for his wall along the Mexican border if he did not end trans military participation.
WH issues guidelines to direct Pentagon to stop admitting transgender people, gives Mattis power to remove those serving https://t.co/jEXkj2T6ct
— Jason Leopold (@JasonLeopold) August 24, 2017
WH memo also directs Pentagon to deny admittance to transgender ppl & stop spending on medical treatment for those currently serving https://t.co/q6QUJaIN8o
— Jason Leopold (@JasonLeopold) August 24, 2017
It will cost the US military 114 times more to ban transgender soldiers than to keep them https://t.co/XhsQDoOscI
— Bharat Manghnani (@bmangh) August 15, 2017
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.