MILITARY BAN
Donald Trump BANS transgender people from the military ‘in any capacity because of their tremendous medical costs’
PRESIDENT Trump revealed today he is to ban transgender people from any kind of military service in the US.
Trump made his shock announcement, which would represent a major shift in American military policy, on his Twitter feed.
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He 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 US Military.
"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. Thank you."
It’s a significant change in the stance he took last year during his Presidential election campaign.
“Thank you to the LGBT community!
"I will fight for you while Hillary brings in more people that will threaten your freedoms and beliefs.”
The Pentagon ended its ban on openly transgender people serving in the US military in 2016 under Barack Obama's administration.
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It was expected to start allowing transgender people to begin enlisting this year, provided they had been "stable" in their preferred gender for 18 months.
Last month Defense Secretary Jim Mattis approved a six-month delay in allowing transgender recruits to join the US armed forces, a move that alarmed transgender advocates.
Last year then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter cited a study by the RAND Corporation think tank saying there were between 2,500 and 7,000 transgender active-duty service members and 1,500 reserve transgender service members.
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The President’s announcement came amid debate on Capitol Hill over the Obama-era practice of requiring the Pentagon to pay for medical treatment related to gender transition.
There are as many as 250 service members in the process of transitioning to their preferred genders or who have been approved to formally change gender within the Pentagon's personnel system.
The cost for the treatment for these troops is estimated at between £2m and £6m - which is just 0.004 per cent of the Ministry of Defense's health care budget.
The dispute has unfolded as Congress considers a £500 BILLION spending bill to fund the Pentagon into the immediate future.
Representative Vicky Hartzler, Republican of Missouri, has proposed an amendment that would bar the Pentagon from spending any more money on transition surgery or related hormone therapy.
Trump's policy reversal will certainly anger transgender campaigners.
And he is already under fire from some who claim his tweets are an "insult" to the country's heroic transgender troops.
Tweeting just after the announcement Democratic Representative Tim Ryan said: "The arguments being made against transgender service members are the exact same as those faced by women, African-Americans and any other minority groups before they were able to serve in our military."
He called Trump's decision "a disgrace & an insult to countless brave transgender service members".
Transgender soldier Chelsea Manning blasted the President for his "cowardice".
She was infamously jailed for passing Wikileaks a series of documents known as the Iraq and Afghan war logs, the diplomatic cables, and Guantanamo Bay files.
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Sue Fulton, a member of SPARTA, a group of LGBT people who serve or have served, wrote in an email to BuzzFeed that “under the authority of the Secretary of Defense, transgender service members have been serving openly, honorably, and with distinction over the past year.
"They are commanding troops, training new recruits and conducting special operations among many of the responsibilities of the approximately 15k on active duty.
"If President Trump chooses to overrule his Secretary of Defense, he will disrupt units, undercut the mission and ruin lives.
"His comments have nothing to do with military readiness, and he should allow people who have served to determine what’s best.”
Congressman Dan Kildee of Michigan, a Vice Chair of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Equality Caucus, said the ban "undermines our military's readiness" calling it "a slap in the face to the thousands of transgender Americans already serving in the military.
"Anyone who is willing to put on the uniform of the United States and risk their life in service to our country should be celebrated as patriots, regardless of their gender identity," he said.
"This short-sighted and discriminatory policy will make America less safe."
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