Tag: Military

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Trump Set to Ban Transgender Military Servicemembers

Buck Banks

“Donald Trump is planning an executive order that would lead to the removal of all transgender members of the U.S. military. … The order could come on his first day back in the White House, January 20. There are believed to be about 15,000 active service personnel who are transgender. They would be medically discharged, which would determine that they were unfit to serve.”

— The Times of London

Duncan Hunter Draws a False Comparison

Buck Banks

“I was an artillery officer, and we fired hundreds of rounds into Fallujah, killed probably hundreds of civilians. Probably killed women and children if there were any left in the city when we invaded. So, do I get judged too?”

— Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) said he probably killed “hundreds of civilians” while serving as an artillery officer in Fallujah, KPBS reports.

Coast Guard Head Expresses Support for Transgender Troops

Buck Banks

“We have made an investment in you and you have made an investment in the Coast Guard, and I will not break faith.”

— U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Paul Zukunft, pledging he “will not break faith” with transgender personnel, “marking the strongest rebuttal yet by a leader of the armed forces to President Trump’s declaration that he wants to ban all transgender troops,” Politico reports.

Wide Majority Approves of Transgender Service Members

Buck Banks

68% to 27%

A new Quinnipiac poll finds American voters say by a 68% to 27% margin, including 55% to 39% among voters in military households, that transgender people should be allowed to serve in the military. Republicans oppose transgender service, 60% to 32%, but every other party, gender, education, age or racial group supports transgender service by margins of 22 percentage points or higher.

Trump’s Mar-A-Lago Trips Cost More than Transgender Troops Medical Care

Buck Banks

0.14%

In announcing his ban on transgender people in the military, President Trump said that taxpayers “cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Except that USA Today points out that trans troops don’t really cost that much: “A report for the Pentagon last year found that transition-related care would cost between about $2.4 and $8.4 million per year — less than 0.14% of the military’s medical budget. That’s roughly the cost of four of Trump’s trips to Mar-A-Lago.”