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‘Bigoted, disrespectful, unpatriotic’: Activists blast Trump’s transgender military ban

"Transgender members of our military have done more to serve and protect this country than Donald Trump ever will."

Esther Yu Hsi Lee Twitter
SAN DIEGO, CA - MARCH 13: President Donald Trump addresses troops at Miramar Marine Corp Air Station on March 13, 2018 in San Diego, California. President Trump, on his first visit to California, will view the prototype border walls and then attend a fundraiser in Beverly Hills. (Photo by Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images)
SAN DIEGO, CA - MARCH 13: President Donald Trump addresses troops at Miramar Marine Corp Air Station on March 13, 2018 in San Diego, California. President Trump, on his first visit to California, will view the prototype border walls and then attend a fundraiser in Beverly Hills. (Photo by Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images)

Activists and Democratic lawmakers on Saturday slammed a new policy announced by the White House that would ban most transgender people from serving in the military.

In a statement late Friday, the White House attempted to disqualify from military service transgender persons “with a history or diagnosis of gender dysphoria” including people who “may require substantial medical treatment, including medications and surgery…except under certain limited circumstances.” Those exceptions include current transgender military members who have been “stable for 36 consecutive months in their biological sex prior to accession,” those who “do not require a change of gender,” and transgender servicemembers who began serving under the Obama administration’s initial policy rolling back the ban on transgender troops.

The new Trump administration policy reverses an earlier blanket ban that was blocked by federal judges, the BBC notes.

In a report to the president last month, the Department of Defense claimed that allowing people with a history of “gender dysphoria” to serve in the military could “undermine readiness” and “impose an unreasonable burden on the military” itself. It further claimed that there were “significant shortcomings” to the Obama administration’s decision to allow transgender people to serve, which was largely based on a widely panned study by the RAND think tank.

Anywhere between 4,000 and 10,000 transgender people are currently serving as active-duty and reserve service members.

The decision to ban Americans who might willingly put their lives on the line to protect the country comes as the military struggles to meet its recruiting goals, forcing it to accept recruits with lower qualifications. The Air Force specifically is facing a shortage of 2,000 pilots. More than two-thirds of the 34 million 17-to-24-year-olds would not qualify for the military under its current health, education, and physical standards.

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Following Friday’s policy announcement, opponents of the transgender ban and lawmakers promptly condemned the White House’s decision. Among those critics was Danica Roem, the first openly transgender person elected to the Virginia House of Delegates, who tweeted that “[t]ransgender members of our military have done more to serve and protect this country than Donald Trump ever will.”

The LGBTQ association for actively serving LBGTQ military personnel and veterans also issued a series of scathing tweets condemning the ban.

Democratic lawmakers like Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), who served in the U.S. Army and lost both her legs while serving in Iraq, issued similarly harsh criticism.

The Pentagon has not said when the new rule is set to take effect, stating only that it will “continue to assess and retain transgender service members.”