I use the term “semi-ban” intentionally, as the measure bans new openly transgender recruits, but leaves in question the fate of the hundreds of (openly) transgender service members currently in uniform. It does, though, make it clear that the Defense Dept. cannot pay for any medical care regimens for those service members (except in life-threatening circumstances), and their status remains open while the Depts. of Defense and Homeland Security (the directive applies to the military, DHS, and the Coast Guard) evaluate “how to address transgender individuals currently serving based on military effectiveness and lethality, unitary cohesion, budgetary constraints, applicable law, and all factors that may be relevant.” That evaluation is to go over the next six months.
(“Lethality”? Is there a question whether transgender troops are less capable of killing other people?)
While the directive from the White House leaves the respective Secretaries a lot of wiggle room in their evaluation, in a sense that’s kicking the can down the road for the President himself, as he can say that he’s following through on the evangelical impulses of the far Right (as advised by his VP), while still not actually doing all that much at the moment aside from stopping further recruiting. It will be hard to challenge something that’s effectively still under evaluation.
But once that study is complete, then what will happen? If the DoD again determines that some (or all) transgender service members can be retained because they are “lethal” enough, will the White House accept that judgment? And will the ban on new recruits still hold up, if people already in are allowed to stay in? And how will all those congressfolk react who were so piously objecting on both sides of the aisle over how someone who wants to serve should be allowed to serve? Will they intervene before then? And, it being an election year, how will that play into the matter?
It’s arguable that what had been originally tweeted as an outrageous new ban is is simply kicking things back to pre-2016 and turning it into yet another study. As this had already been done (and follow-up studying of implementation details had been under way), it’s both maddening but difficult to pin down something specific to object to other than further delay and the guy who’s ordering it.
The folk I feel sorry for are the transgender individuals already serving, who entered the military to defend our country, and who now have to wait for months, not knowing their fate, because their Commander-in-Chief thinks they’re a bother, or because he wants to pander to some of his base.
They deserve much better. I hope they get it.
Trump signs directive banning transgender military recruits
President Donald Trump on Friday directed the military not to move forward with an Obama-era plan that would have allowed transgender individuals to be recruited into the armed forces, following through on his intentions announced a month earlier to ban transgender people from serving.
Ffs 😡.
Actually, the more I consider this, the more I see it as a face-saving back-down by Trump, who probably expected to be hailed as a hero by the entire GOP and instead got lambasted by a lot of prominent Republicans (and cold-shouldered by the Defense Dept.).
He gets to issue the directive, he gets to pander to the religious zanies, he gets to keep transgender enlistees out, for the moment and he turns the responsibility for the decision over to the military men, and kicks the can down the road for six months.
At the end of that time, he still has the option of going with their recommendation (even if they say, "Yeah, like we said before, it's not really a problem"), or being all Presidential and Decisionator and outraging a bunch of people just because he can.
He still has all the options, he still looks like he's on the side of the Far Right, and he still defuses (or delays) the grounds for legislation or judicial action to stop things, thereby covering up that he's backed away from his initial tweets.
I hope the Judicial branch squashes this like the Muslim ban.