By Nydia Ramos, Copy Editor
President Donald Trump has shocked all advocates for the LGBT community by announcing that any transgender individual planning to enter and serve in the United States military will not be admitted. He declared his decision through a string of Twitter posts on July 26, 2017.
This proposal isn’t only unjust and unfair, but it has brought outrage throughout America and all over the world with people who support transgender rights. As a fellow supporter of all human rights, this act of barring transgenders from the military is seen as a completely harsh and unnecessary move.
Transgenders have fought courageously to get to their current social standing. They haven’t been openly allowed to serve until just last year, June 2016, when the U.S. Secretary of Defense, Ashton B. Carter, announced that transgender Americans may serve openly and “can no longer be discharged or otherwise separated from the military just for being transgender.”
This decision was backed by a study commissioned by Carter that showed that allowing transgenders to serve would cause little or no impact on unit cohesion, operational effectiveness and readiness; the very thing Trump argued as one of the major reasons that led him to re-ban transgenders. He claims that the American force cannot afford the medical cost and disruptions.This statement is proven to be untrue by study after study. The one conducted by RAND Corporation concluded that there are an estimated 1,320 to 6,630 transgender individuals serving in the military, out of which only about 29 to 129 per year actually seek out transition-related medical care that would even disrupt their ability to deploy which is a mere 3 percent of transgender service members.
Transgenders have always been scrutinized, pushed aside, bullied and abused for being who they are. They had just made progress by being allowed to openly serve which is not just a privilege, it is a right. These courageous people are not only willing to come out as transgender in these hypercritical times but they are stoic enough to also go out and risk their lives for our country. And what do we do for them? We take away the right to serve because it’s an “inconvenience.” All this does is take down more of the progress that this country has made to become more accepting and loving towards one another. Transgenders currently serving in the military suddenly feel unwelcome when all they were trying to do was protect and serve.
There is a stark contrast between now and during Trump’s campaign. He claimed to be an ally to the LGBT community. Noting that the “T” stands for “Transgender,”one would think he would support transgenders serving in the military. Now that this has happened, who knows what will happen to the rest of the LGBT community? If he goes and turns his back on the transgenders now, how can we guarantee that this won’t happen to the rest of the community?
This announcement has brought not only transgenders and their families to tears but also their supporters. It’s devastating to them to be told they’re not allowed to go out and serve just because of their gender identification. Most of all, it is heartbreaking to see the progress we have made as a country being torn back down over something that’s been proven to be untrue. Any supporter of transgender rights should come forth and fight back against these movements towards banning them from serving, before it’s too late.