Politics

14 States Declare Opposition To Trump’s Ban On Transgenders In Military

REUTERS/Anton Vaganov.

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Jonah Bennett Contributor
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Fourteen states and the District of Columbia are loudly declaring opposition to President Donald Trump’s ban on transgender individuals serving in the military.

Massachusetts, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Iowa and the District of Columbia joined together in pushing for the court to “enjoin the Trump administration’s plan to reinstate an unconstitutional, unjustified and discriminatory ban on open military service by transgender people,” according to an amicus curiae brief filed in the U.S. District Court of Columbia on Monday.

Not only is there nothing inherent to being transgender that would prohibit them from service, but transgender people are apparently as capable as regular individuals in terms of contributing positively to their communities, according to the states. Moreover, the brief argues that transgender people should be free from the Trump administration’s discriminatory efforts.

“The military has already concluded that allowing transgender individuals to serve openly is in the nation’s best interest,” the brief states. “Reinstating the ban simply cannot be justified by reference to costs, unit cohesion, or overall readiness. Rather, the Administration seeks to ban otherwise qualified people from service simply because of who they are.”

“The United States Government will not accept or allow Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. 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,” Trump announced on July 26.

Trump later clarified his initial Twitter statements with a memorandum to the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security, telling the agencies to block transgender recruits from joining the military and to kick out transgender service members by March 23, 2018.

Since the tweet announcement and the memo to the Pentagon, numerous suits have been filed against the administration.

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