Trump's official trans ban lets military kick out currently serving troops
The tweets became policy on Friday when President Donald Trump signed a long-awaited directive officially banning transgender individuals from serving in the military.
The directive also gives Defense Secretary Jim Mattis the authority to kick out trans people currently serving in the armed forces, according to the New York Times.Mattis, who will have wide discretion over who can stay, has six months to put Trump's policy into action.
SEE ALSO:Here are just a few of the trans soldiers who keep your dumb ass alive, Donald TrumpTrump also instructed the military to stop paying for gender confirmation surgery for current service members, unless doing so would harm individuals already transitioning.
The directive, which also applies to the Department of Homeland Security and the Coast Guard, comes nearly a month after Trump first tweeted about the ban, enraging LGBTQ advocates and confusing his own generals. Reportedly, Trump had not warned military leaders that he planned to enact the ban, which would reverse an Obama-era policy.
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Two LGBTQ advocacy groups, GLAD and NCLR, filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration soon after he sent the initial tweets. The groups, which are representing five service members, doubled down on their claims after Trump's guidance was signed.
"This is a senseless and unprecedented attack on dedicated service members who have played by the rules,” said Shannon Minter, NCLR Legal Director. “Our military already has standards and systems in place to ensure our troops are qualified and fit to serve. Trump’s ban is about politics, not military policy, and it will make our country less secure."
While the count is disputed, a 2016 Rand study estimated the number of active duty and reserve transgender service members at 2,000 to 11,000. According to GLAAD, another LGBTQ advocacy organization, there are 15,000 trans individuals in the military.
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Since his July 26 tweets, Trump has said that the ban was meant to save money as trans military members could use government-sponsored insurance for their health needs and gender confirmation surgery. However, that's likely not the true impetus as the military spends very little on gender-confirmation surgery, compared to its total budget and other medical items, including Viagra.
The military spent $41.6 million on Viagra in 2014, five times what the 2016 Rand study estimates transgender health care costs the military.
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Soon after Trump sent out the three tweets that kicked off the ban, it became clear that the change was meant to appease certain conservative members of Congress who've been pushing to cut military spending on gender-confirmation surgeries. According to Politico,if Trump blocked the surgery funds, the congress members would agree to vote for a spending bill filled with money for his campaign promises, including the wall along the Mexico border. But Trump took it all a step further. He didn't just target surgery funds, he called for an outright ban.
Both Democrats and Republicans have spoken out against the ban since it was birthed on Twitter.
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House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from Marlyand, hit Trump again after he signed the directive, saying in a statement, "Prejudice, not the national defense, is behind President Trump's cruel decision to kick transgender troops out of the military."
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