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Donald Trump Says US Military Will Not Allow Transgender People To Serve (theguardian.com)

Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would not allow transgender individuals to serve in the US military in any capacity. From a report: The US president tweeted: "After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow ... transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military." He added: "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." Trump's decision marks a sharp reversal of a policy initiated under Barack Obama, in which the Pentagon ended a longtime ban on transgender people from serving openly in the military. As a candidate, Trump cast himself as a supporter of LGBT rights and indicated he would uphold certain Obama-era policies designed to protect transgender people.

7 of 904 comments (clear)

  1. Contentious issue by mysidia · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Sorry, Trump... that genie is already out of the bottle. Legislation is probably necessary to roll it back at this point.

    My feeling is this is bound to wind up in the 9th circuit district court with an injunctive order issued against this change in policy.

    1. Re:Contentious issue by Kohath · · Score: 1, Interesting

      The same thing can be said for issuing travel visas to foreign nationals. Courts go beyond their authority all the time.

  2. Re:PC by joe_frisch · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Its an interesting question. Women are on average not as strong as men and they are on average smaller. so fighter planes designed for women pilots would be more efficient. Should our next generation military aircraft and other roles that don't require physical strength be optimized for women, while roles that require physical strength are optimized for men.

  3. Re:No surprise. by Verdatum · · Score: 3, Interesting

    FWIW, if you are on stimulant therapy for ADD, they will not allow you to enlist. But if you can get by without meds, they're happy to take you. (There is no indication that transgendered people are unable to function without hormone therapy, they should be able to serve.)

  4. Re:No surprise. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Dr. Paul R. McHugh, the former psychiatrist-in-chief for Johns Hopkins Hospital and its current Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry, said that transgenderism is a “mental disorder” that merits treatment, that sex change is “biologically impossible,” and that people who promote sexual reassignment surgery are collaborating with and promoting a mental disorder.
    (2015, not decades ago)

    A german study (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12832250) results state "In 270 (75%) of these 359 patients, cross-gender identification was interpreted as an epiphenomenon of other psychiatric illnesses, notably personality, mood, dissociative, and psychotic disorders. Major mood disorders, dissociative disorders and psychotic disorders reported in 79% of transgenders."
    (2003, not decades ago)

    Even if you argue that transgenderism isn't in itself a mental disorder, a transgender individual is far more likely to have multiple other mental disorders, a much higher risk of suicide, etc. It then becomes fair to say that if you are transgender, you personally might be mentally stable enough to be in the military but there is a very high statistical chance that you are nuts in ways that are prohibitively not conducive to the purpose of the military and the stresses that occur due to that purpose.

  5. Re: It makes sense by Gavagai80 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    From your sexist point of view, shouldn't the army be actively encouraging all women soldiers to become transmen to strengthen themselves?

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  6. Re:After consultation with "my Generals"... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Ad hominem, deflect, and attack. No reasoned logical, Constitutional, or historical arguments.

    Yup, found the Progressive!