A press release from One Colorado, the state’s principal LGBT advocacy group, slams an announcement via Twitter today from President Donald Trump, apparently barring transgender Americans from serving in the U.S. military:
One Colorado, the state’s leading advocacy organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer Coloradans and their families released the following statement from Daniel Ramos, Executive Director, on President Trump’s announcement that transgender people can no longer serve in the U.S. Military.
“President Trump just attacked thousands of patriotic transgender Americans who already serve in our military and who put their lives on the line every day to keep us safe and free. The U.S. military is the largest employer of transgender people in the world, employing an estimated 15,000 transgender people today.
“This is yet another example of the Trump Administration attacking the most vulnerable among us instead of bringing Americans together to fix the problems that face all of us. Transgender people — like all Americans — should be judged for their qualifications, nothing more, nothing less. As we learned in repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, allowing service members to serve with integrity strengthens our armed forces.
“Our veterans and military deserve better and we will fight against this vicious attack on dignity and equality. Transgender people are our friends, neighbors, and coworkers. They are veterans who have served with honor, and active duty service members who have sacrificed to protect our freedoms. When it comes to being able to serve their country, earn a living, having a place to live, or being served by a business, transgender people should be treated like anyone else and not be discriminated against.”
And as the Denver Post’s Mark Matthews reports, arch-conservative Rep. Ken Buck, a consistent Trump defender, is not happy with this decision:
Colorado Congressman Ken Buck, a Republican, pushed back against President Donald Trump’s decision Wednesday morning to bar transgender people from serving in the military “in any capacity.”
“America needs a military comprised of patriots willing to sacrifice for this country,” Buck, who represents Weld County and the Eastern Plains, said in a written statement to The Denver Post. “Any American who is physically and emotionally qualified should be allowed to serve.”
Buck, who led the high-profile Greeley hate-crime prosecution of the the killer of transgender woman Angie Zapata, was one of several members of Colorado’s congressional delegation to weigh in following Trump’s Twitter posts Wednesday morning.
In a statement, Rep. Doug Lamborn of Colorado Springs is supporting Trump, saying “there are too many unanswered medical, housing, readiness, and deployment questions to allow the previous policies of the Obama administration to continue.” That’s the only clear support we’ve seen from any elected official in Colorado, though others have yet to weigh in. As for Rep. Buck, it’s believed that his experience in the high-profile 2009 trial of the murderer of Greeley transgender woman Angie Zapata genuinely affected him, and made him more tolerant in the specific case of transgender people.
Obviously, this is a major setback for Trump’s not-insignificant number of defenders in the LGBT community–and we expect the president’s daughter Ivanka Trump will have even more trouble explaining this, like so many other things her dad has said and done, to her socially liberal wealthy friends in NYC. With all of the very real problems besetting the Trump administration today, there’s only one reason why Trump would voluntarily open himself to this whole new line of fully avoidable criticism.
It’s petty and mean-spirited, but it’s also a distraction.
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Wow, is Ken Buck evolving on LGBT issues?
Who would have thought he's be channeling the late Barry Goldwater on this!
A tweet is not a policy. Anyone know the next step?
So our draft-dodging POTUS can't support transgender soldiers?
Pols has it right….it's a distraction. Maybe there's something in the defense budget that he wants to cut out – but I read Tweeterdumb's latest splats, and it's hard to see what he wants the military to be focused on in Syria, in Lebanon, in Afghanistan:
What is this "decisive and overwhelming victory" he speaks of, for which he wants to sacrifice the rights of transgender soldiers? We don't even have an authorization for use of military force (Ryan took out Barbara Lee's AUMG amendment) and we have no mission statement. Yet we keep sending more and more troops there.
Did you see how much more they spend on Viagra refills for limp-dicked male officers than they expect to spend on gender reassignment? Something like five times the amount.
Either there are not many transgendered GI's needing medical benefits, or a hell of a lot of GI's with ED.
http://www.denverpost.com/2017/07/26/us-military-viagra-transgender-medical-care/
The estimate from OutServe is 15000 transfolk on active duty.
Rand puts the estimate as between 1320 and 6,620 on active duty.
. Their midrange estimate was just 2,450.
"This is how we celebrate ‘American Heroes Week,’ cub scouts!"
https://www.gop.gov/american-heroes-week1/
Politico has what seems the most believable explanation for the decision. Just a matter of political expediency to get his wall funded. Nothing to do with military readiness or performance, and well beyond even what the House
bigotsconservatives were asking for.http://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/26/trump-transgender-military-ban-behind-the-scenes-240990
Michelangelo Signorile provides more background and additional motivation.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trumps-cruel-military-ban-on-transgender-people-is-an-attempt-to-save-his-base_us_5978905ae4b0a8a40e8417f3?5mp&ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
But the Senate will never go along with funding the wall. I mean, even many Republican senators have said no to that.
The Politico article made sense of a sort. They were going to stop funding military gender reassignment surgery in the defense budget, in exchange for supporting funding for the stupid wall.
Then our chaotic, erratic President , without consulting with generals or military experts (he lied when he said that he had), tweeted out a ban on transgendered people serving in the military.
It's not policy; it was a statement of intent to change policy. Per Maddow's show, the thousands of transgendered soldiers on the ground are being supported by their units. Unit cohesion requires people to have each other's backs, and, until there is an official policy, which requires a very specific procedure, the existing policies should be followed. This is really bad for the military, as well as for TG soldiers.
This video is an interview with the head of OutServe, an organization for LGBT military people, and the director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America,with their take on the impact of the"transgender ban tweet".
Closer to home, this is what Rep. Esgar and the Colorado Legislative LGBT caucus had to say:
House Democrats
‘You Are Not a Burden; You Are True American Heroes’
July 26, 2017
(July 26) – The Colorado General Assembly’s LGBT caucus reacted with outrage after President Trump sent out a tweet this morning saying transgender people would be banned from the United States armed forces.
“President Trump’s tweet this morning is a betrayal of the thousands of transgender Americans who are already serving honorably in our armed forces, defending our cherished values and freedoms,” the caucus said in a joint statement. “One of those freedoms is living our own lives, whether in religious belief, political expression or gender identity. We stand with our transgender service members and will do all we can to fight for their right to defend our country’s freedoms. You are not a burden; you are true American heroes.”
The Colorado Legislative LGBT Caucus includes co-chairs Sen. Dominick Moreno, D-Commerce City, and Rep. Daneya Esgar, D-Pueblo, as well as Sen. Lucia Guzman, D-Denver, and Reps. Joann Ginal, D-Fort Collins, Leslie Herod, D-Denver, and Paul Rosenthal, D-Denver.
Pols said: "……but it's also a distraction." Indeed, we really need to be talking about Hillary's e-mails, right Andrew, Moderatus, PP?
And Benghazi, too.
Whitewater!
The blowback on this is incredible…
Ken Buck is not the only right winger to criticize trump. Mattis is PO'd. Even the House free dumb caucus is saying that they just didn't want to pay for surgery or hormones, not a complete ban.
Hell, even Con Man Cory criticized trump. This must be one of the things he's done that Moldy says is not evil.
He's getting his ass handed to him from some incredibly conservative corners. This is being interesting. People who railed about President Obama ending DADT are screaming about Trump's tweet. Orrin Hatch laid into him about it. That made me choke on my soda when I read it this morning.