Former Generals Praise Trump’s Transgender Military Ban
- Updated Aug 02, 2017
Some retired generals and admirals are thanking President Donald Trump for his announced policy to ban transgender people from the armed forces.
In a letter to Trump, more than a dozen retired generals and admirals told Trump they were pleased with Trump for overturning the policy.
“We write today to express our gratitude to you for making the extremely courageous decision to reverse President Obama’s transgender social experiment,” the letter said.
“There may be an enormous amount of vitriol directed at you for making this policy correction, but please know that overturning this policy may have done more in the long-term to save the culture and war-fighting capacity of the U.S. military than perhaps any other military policy you will adopt as president.”
The letter came just after the Palm Center, a research nonprofit that supports LGBT, released its own statement from 56 retired generals and admirals who said the ban on transgender people serving in the military hurts the armed forces.
“This proposed ban, if implemented, would cause significant disruptions, deprive the military of mission-critical talent, and compromise the integrity of transgender troops who would be forced to live a lie, as well as non-transgender peers who would be forced to choose between reporting their comrades or disobeying policy.”
For now, no changes have been made, and the current Obama policy remains. Transgender troops are allowed to serve openly and can obtain medical benefits, such as gender reassignment surgeries.
Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis said he would wait on an official White House directive before making any changes to the policy.
“Orders and announcements are different things,” he said.
Photo courtesy: Thinkstockphotos.com
Publication date: August 2, 2017
