The Ban on Transgender Soldiers

 Donald Trump recommended a new policy saying that people who are transgender and have had gender reassignment surgery be disqualified from military service. In July of 2017, court rulings halted the ban because it could have been potentially unconstitutional. The Defense Secretary Jim Mattis recommended this to President Trump. He thought that by banning transgender people from the military, this would enhance the military’s ability to protect Americans and win wars. The thought was that the exclusion of transgender persons would help military people to survive better. In July President Trump posted on Twitter that the government will not accept or allow in any capacity for transgender people to be in the military. In August, he guided the Pentagon to reverse a policy made my President Obama to allow transgender people and people with gender dysphoria to serve in the military.

President Trump also tweeted that the military cannot be burdened with the disruption and medical costs that transgender people would bring to the military. Republicans are for this policy and say it is for saving money for the military, but Democrats and LGBT advocates are against the policy. The Human Rights Campaign suspects the Trump Administration of being prejudice against transgender people. Nancy Pelosi tweeted that no one should be turned away from serving in the military, and the ban is trying to humiliate transgender people in the military. Advocates say the ban is worse than the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy which banned gays from serving in the military. They could not talk about being openly gay. Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights said the policy has zero medical credibility and that it is anti-transgender propaganda made by Republicans. 

I’m curious about how many transgender persons serve in the military.  Does anyone have a guess?   I found a source at the BBC and at Snopes that review the research:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40950946. 

https://www.snopes.com/news/2017/07/27/how-many-transgender-people-currently-serve-in-the-u-s-military/  

There are interesting historical examples of women who disguised themselves as men to serve in the military.  That history might be an interesting note to consider in a contemplation of the issue of transgendered soldiers.  I recommend you do a search for The Drummer Maid or the Female Drummer.

You might have informed your audience about the political reasons why the Commander in Chief might want to ban transgendered persons from serving.

There are the claims for direct reasons, which were covered fairly well in your paper:

1) It is detrimental to the fighting effectiveness of the military

2) The costs of helping those soldiers transition to their new gender through surgery and hormone treatments is too expensive a burden for the military to bear

3) Allowing the transgendered persons to serve makes it difficult to recruit persons who would otherwise be good soldiers.  Allowing transgendered soldiers harms the reputation of the military.

There are also indirect reasons.  I assume these are likely to be the real reasons for the attempt to ban transgendered soldiers, but I didn't pay much attention to the issue, and perhaps no one has published an analysis of the likely reasons for this policy.

1. Trump and General Mattis are uncomfortable with transgendered persons, and want to exclude them from the military, and will do so because that is what they want to do and they have the power to do it.
2. Trump wants to increase the intensity of the political support he has from those who approve of his presidency, because in some critical areas he is failing to deliver policies that will please those supporters, so he uses a ban on transgendered persons serving in the military as a way to appease his supporters.
3. There are very few transgendered persons in the general population, and many people do not accept transgendered persons as normal or good (some people hate any challenges to their ideals about binary gender and sex). Since this is a small group with little political power, it’s easy to scapegoat them and direct attention and hostile emotions toward them, as this will help Trump get political support from people who don’t know about his other policies or their (harmful) effects, and who will ignore those policies because they are so delighted with the attack on the (politically weak) transgender interest groups.

Transgender Military Service, a Letter to President Trump

Letter to the Commander in Chief, President Donald Trump,

Dear Mr. President:

By March 23, 2018, you have a plan to no longer allow transgender individuals to serve in the military forces. I believe this idea is severely flawed and will negatively affect not only your presidency, but also the lives of many Americans. 

Transgender people have just as much right to defend the United States as all other Americans. A study commissioned by the Department of Defense from the Rand Corporation (Source 1) found that, “there are no readiness implications that prevent transgender people from serving openly and that numerous foreign militaries have successfully permitted upon service” (Source 2). One of your major arguments is about the cost of medical care for the transgender troop members. This study also proved that the medical cost would be very small. Transgender troop members can be held to the same standards as their respective counterparts. They can keep up and be successful in the military. For a very long time, people were not even allowed to be openly gay in the military. That has become such an outdated idea. 

I believe I was the most alarmed by the comments in support of your tweet about not allowing transgender people into the service. Many people had very vividly cruel language to describe the people in the LGBTQ+ community. Dear Mr. President, you are the President for all Americans. We all need your help to encourage feelings that we can all love and respect each other based on our moral strength and our contributions, and we need you to discourage the hatred and hostility shown against people in the LGBTQ+ community.

 The men and women fighting for the protection of our nation should be able to be comfortable in their own skin. I do not see any threat to our country or the effectiveness of our soldiers, sailors, and aviators by having a transgender member of the military. I see more benefit than anything else. Allowing a diverse group of people to serve in any capacity will allow more perspectives. More perspectives offer a greater ability to problem solve and create innovative new solutions. This idea can work especially in the military sector. If women and men are both allowed to serve in the military, so should transgender people. 

President Trump, I sincerely ask that you reconsider, if for nothing else, I believe this to be a very basic right. You have many things to gain, and the country will gain, if you do not follow through with your idea to restrict Transgender persons out of the military.  I wish you the best in making an educated and well-informed decision about the troops. 

Best,

[A student in the SWK-355 class]

P.S. the rest of the study can be found at http://www.hrc.org/resources/transgender-military-service

Source 1: Assessing the Implications of Allowing Transgender Personnel to Serve Openly .
Source 2: Transgender Military Service