Trump Tweets on 7/26/17 at 0555 Calling for a Military Ban on Transgender People
Navy Seal Kristin Beck - Before and After Transition
The Veterans Caucus and the LGBT Caucus of the California Democratic Party have issued the following statement:
The Veterans Caucus and the LGBT Caucus of the California Democratic Party oppose Trump’s tweets calling for a ban on transgender military members from serving our country and demand that Governor Brown and the Chancellors of all public post-secondary schools deny ROTC and military recruiters access to campuses if this ban goes into effect.
LGBT Caucus Co-Chair Evan Minton said: “Our campuses must remain places of equal opportunity. If the President’s tweets turn into policy, our state must take immediate steps to protect California’s bedrock values of fairness and inclusivity. This includes barring entities with such hateful, discriminatory policies to have free reign to our campuses and students."
Veterans Caucus Chair Shawn Terris said: “What is astonishing about the Trump administration’s statement that allowing transgender people to serve in the military ‘erodes military readiness and unit cohesion’ is that Donald Trump has proven in the short six months’ he’s been in office is that he is unfit to serve as commander in chief. It is Donald Trump who should be fired, not transgender military members who are serving honorably and sacrificing their lives for his freedom and the freedom of all Americans.”
The Veterans Caucus and LGBT Caucus stand with every transgender military member who currently serves and those who have served in the past. We believe that any American who meets the readiness standards of the military and has been trained to fight for our country, should be able to do so. Furthermore, we believe that firing transgender service members only weakens our military’s readiness. It does not strengthen it.
The excuses given for this ban are the same excuses used to get rid of and/or segregate women, pregnant women, African Americans, gays, and lesbians. The ban would affect the careers of approximately 15,000 service members (source: UCLA’s Williams Institute).
Furthermore, the claim that this is a medical cost cutting decision is bogus. For example, the military spends over $81 million every year on erectile dysfunction prescriptions and only $6 million on health care for transgender troops.
The Veterans Caucus and the LGBT Caucus of the California Democratic Party oppose Trump’s tweets calling for a ban on transgender military members from serving our country and demand that Governor Brown and the Chancellors of all public post-secondary schools deny ROTC and military recruiters access to campuses if this ban goes into effect.
LGBT Caucus Co-Chair Evan Minton said: “Our campuses must remain places of equal opportunity. If the President’s tweets turn into policy, our state must take immediate steps to protect California’s bedrock values of fairness and inclusivity. This includes barring entities with such hateful, discriminatory policies to have free reign to our campuses and students."
Veterans Caucus Chair Shawn Terris said: “What is astonishing about the Trump administration’s statement that allowing transgender people to serve in the military ‘erodes military readiness and unit cohesion’ is that Donald Trump has proven in the short six months’ he’s been in office is that he is unfit to serve as commander in chief. It is Donald Trump who should be fired, not transgender military members who are serving honorably and sacrificing their lives for his freedom and the freedom of all Americans.”
The Veterans Caucus and LGBT Caucus stand with every transgender military member who currently serves and those who have served in the past. We believe that any American who meets the readiness standards of the military and has been trained to fight for our country, should be able to do so. Furthermore, we believe that firing transgender service members only weakens our military’s readiness. It does not strengthen it.
The excuses given for this ban are the same excuses used to get rid of and/or segregate women, pregnant women, African Americans, gays, and lesbians. The ban would affect the careers of approximately 15,000 service members (source: UCLA’s Williams Institute).
Furthermore, the claim that this is a medical cost cutting decision is bogus. For example, the military spends over $81 million every year on erectile dysfunction prescriptions and only $6 million on health care for transgender troops.