Trump Attacks Transgender Service Members

 

Equality Florida Responds To Trump's Attacks On Transgender Service Members
 

ST PETERSBURG, FL — Earlier today, President Trump tweeted that transgender individuals will no longer be able to serve “in any capacity” in the U.S. Military. 

Equality Florida’s Director of Transgender Equality Gina Duncan offers the following statement:

On Wednesday, President Trump said he would ban transgender people from military service. It is alarming, unacceptable, and dangerous for the President of the United States to openly discriminate against transgender servicemembers stationed around the world who willingly serve their country. By “tweeting” that transgender people will not be allowed to serve “in any capacity” in the US Military, this President is attacking thousands of brave and honorable transgender servicemembers and veterans and sending a message to all transgender people that they are unfit to serve our country simply because of who they are. 

Furthermore, it is especially heinous that this harmful position is being communicated via a tweet. Currently, there are over 15,000 openly transgender people proudly serving in our military. This morning, those 15,000 patriotic transgender people woke up to learn that their Commander-in-Chief called them a "burden" and a "disruption" via a string of tweets.Countless trans people have bravely fought and died for our country, while Trump received five deferments from the Vietnam war draft. The contrast could not be more striking. 

To transgender servicemembers and veterans, we stand with you. You have demonstrated a greater love, commitment, and sacrifice for this country than our current President ever has. He is wrong, again. We must stand together to prevent the clock from being turned back by ignorance and bigotry.
 
Trump’s vague words of support for the LGBTQ community during his campaign and after his inauguration have proven to be empty platitudes. It is crystal clear that the Trump Administration is testing the boundaries on how far they can go to target, erase, and undermine LGBTQ equality.
 
One of his first actions as President was to repeal an executive order that was designed to help enforce LGBTQ protections for federal employees and contractors. He signed a rumored “religious freedom” Executive Order in May, pandering to the extremist religious right.
 
He stripped civil rights pages from the White House website and removed any mention of sexual orientation and gender identity from the 2020 census. LGBTQ people will not be explicitly counted in the 2020 census, effectively erasing our community and crucial data from federal records. 
 
Perhaps most egregiously, the Department of Justice and Department of Education rescinded critical Title IX guidance under Trump’s direction that affirmed the dignity of transgender youth and gave them the ability to feel safe and protected in our schools.
 

 

 

 

 

 

Blog

October 2010

May 2010

October 2009

July 2009

June 2009

May 2009

April 2009