Trans military ban finally enacted to widespread outrage, continued questions

Marilyn Drew Necci
August 28, 2017

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Read More: Danica Roem, Donald McEachin, Donald Trump, HRC, lambda legal, MTV, OutServe SLDN, trans military ban, VA Pride, Video Music Awards

It appears to have finally happened. Last week, news broke that the Trump administration had prepared a memo for delivery to the Pentagon outlining their guidance policy for removal of currently serving transgender troops from the military. And about the time we were clocking out for the weekend over here at GayRVA, the word finally came down as part of that time-honored political tradition, the Friday afternoon unpopular-news dump, that the memo had been delivered to the Pentagon. The trans military ban was going forward.

However, a closer look shows us that many questions still remain. CNN’s report on the subject states that the secretaries of defense and homeland security were ultimately being given the decision of whether or not to remove currently serving trans troops. As we’ve previously discussed, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis has never been on board with the ban, from his “appalled” reaction to the news of the original Trump tweets to his comments at an August 14 press conference in which he both mentioned his belief that diversity is the strength of our military, and that he ultimately had to act on direct orders from the Trump administration regardless of how he felt about them. Not exactly a ringing endorsement.

Regardless, it appears Mattis will have the final word on the policy’s enactment; while there is no room for admission of openly trans recruits to begin (because, it must again be noted, this Obama policy change never did get a chance to take effect), and medical care related to transitions will no longer be covered by the military, the ultimate standard for trans troops’ continued enlistment is “deployability.” With the vast majority of currently-serving trans troops needing no medical maintenance beyond daily medications, the argument that this significantly affects their deployability is tough to make.

Time will tell how this guidance policy will be enacted, and what the fate of the transgender troops currently serving openly will be. However, the resulting public outcry was almost immediately set into motion. At MTV’s Video Music Awards on Sunday evening, six trans troops, including active duty service members Sterling James Crutcher, Logan Ireland, Jennifer Peace, and Akira Wyatt, as well as veterans Laila Ireland and Brynn Tannehil, appeared on the red carpet and spoke to MTV News correspondent Gaby Wilson during the pre-show.

“It’s hard to care about trans service members as a generic, but when you learn the stories of people like Sgt Ireland and Akira, and you can put a face and a name to it, it matters,” Peace told Wilson. “Our nation is only safe if we have the best and brightest in our country serving the military.”

Meanwhile, on the legal front, OutServe Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) joined with Lambda Legal to file a lawsuit on behalf of two trans people attempting to join the military and a trans service member seeking an appointment as an officer, along with two prominent advocacy groups, the Human Rights Campaign and Gender Justice League. “This ban not only wrongfully prevents patriotic, talented Americans from serving, it also compromises the safety and security of our country,” said Lambda Legal Senior Attorney Peter Renn in a press release. “Once again attacking a vulnerable population based on bias, political opportunism and demonstrably untrue ‘alternative facts,’ President Trump is denying brave men and women the opportunity to serve our country without any legitimate justification whatsoever.”

“We promised that we would sue if the president took this action. The law is on our side; justice is on our side,” added Peter Perkowski, Legal Director for OutServe-SLDN. “And we are on the side of every single transgender service member and those who want to serve. The nation’s courts exist to protect the people whom tyrants would otherwise abuse. Trump can’t tweet his way out of this one.”

Responses came from various Virginia-based political leaders and advocacy groups as well. VA Pride issued a statement which read in part, “A guidance memo issued from the White House questions the “deployability” of transgender service members, a standard the president himself has never met, and ends life-saving medical care that they are entitled to receive. Military leaders have not sought, nor supported, a ban on transgender Americans from serving honorably in our military and have called the President’s actions divisive, discriminatory and unnecessary. We agree. Virginia Pride finds it appalling that President Trump, a man who has never sacrificed a day of his life in service to others, would malign those who are willing to give their lives in service to this country.”

Danica Roem, the Democratic candidate for the 13th district seat in the House Of Delegates, who also happens to be a transgender woman, unleashed a vitriolic attack on the president in her own public statement on the issue, which read in part, “In lieu of being capable of passing major legislation, Donald Trump has taken his toddler-like temper-tantrum of the week out on our military and those who wish to ably, capably contribute to its leadership and readiness by signing a ban on transgender people enlisting in the military. I understand that the president is upset at the fact that his own party in Washington, D.C. keeps killing his legislative agenda, just like Del. Bob Marshall’s (R-13) does to him annually here in Virginia, and that he’s desperate to show that he’s not completely powerless while supposedly being the most powerful elected official in the world.”

She continued, “As I said last month, it is the height of hypocrisy for Donald Trump, who has demonstrated himself to be unfit for the presidecy temperamentally and through blatant lying, to use his perch as commander-in-chief to tell transgender people that they’re unfit for the military, especially when he opted not to serve himself. Transgender military members have done more to serve this country than Donald Trump ever will. 2020 cannot come soon enough.”

Virginia’s Fourth District Congressional representative, A. Donald McEachin, had his own response, which began, “The current President of the United States is a daily disappointment. The Trump Administration regularly abuses the powers granted by the Constitution by supporting an agenda of hate, bigotry, and xenophobia. This ban on transgender individuals serving in the military is the latest in a long list of actions that hurt anyone who isn’t born a white, heterosexual man. In eight months, Mr. Trump and his administration have rolled back decades of progress on issues of equality, justice, civil rights, and countless other priorities.”

McEachin continued by explaining his own plans for action in response to this issue.“Together with Representatives Kennedy and Jayapal, joined by dozens of our colleagues, I will send a letter next week that urges the president to reconsider his ban on transgender individuals serving in the armed forces. Mr. Trump has used hate, not facts, to justify this baseless, un-American ban. A study commissioned by the Department of Defense confirmed that medical costs for transgender servicemembers would be negligible. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis has said the Department of Defense should ‘measure each policy decision against one critical standard: will the decision affect the readiness and lethality of the force?’ Based on that standard, there is no rational basis to prevent transgender Americans from serving.”

How the transgender military ban will ultimately take shape in the day-to-day enactment of United States military policy still remains to be seen. However, it’s clear that the process for reinstatement of the previous ban on transgender service will not be a smooth one. GayRVA will continue to keep you informed on this issue’s development.

Photo by Mari Cordes, from DC Transgender Military Ban Protest, July 29

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