Trump’s proposed ban of transgender people serving in the US military is slowly becoming actual policy.
Though Trump initially announced this ban via Twitter, those Tweets are now being used as ‘guidance’ for new policy implementation, according to the Los Angeles Blade.
The policy, called ‘A Guidance Policy for Open Transgender Service Phase Out,’ has not been made public yet. However, sources familiar with it say it would encourage early retirement for trans soldiers, deny trans soldiers the right to reenlist after their contract is up, and fire any trans soldiers up for a promotion.
LGBTI advocacy groups including Lambda Legal have released statements condemning this new policy.
‘I am a transgender military veteran,’ writes Sasha Buchert, a staff attorney with Lambda Legal. ‘The move to purge transgender military personnel is dishonorable to the thousands of transgender men and women who are serving our country with courage and who are integral parts of our armed services.’
‘The safety of all service members – transgender or not – is undermined by a policy like this that distracts from the important missions they have for no valid reason,’ Buchert continues.
‘It is also a slap in the face of the leadership who have worked diligently to develop and implement the current policy which has been in place for more than a year without incident.’
‘This mean-spirited and discriminatory attack on our community is capricious, irrational and clearly driven by anti-LGBT forces in the administration who care more about harming transgender people than keeping our nation safe. It is clearly unconstitutional.’
Lambda Legal plans to sue Trump if this policy passes.
BREAKING: We’re suing @realDonaldTrump over his #TransBan. See you in court, Mr. President. #LGBTQ https://t.co/wmmRrzVzNb
— Lambda Legal (@LambdaLegal) August 5, 2017
