March 24, 2018

Trump heavily discriminates against transgendered service members

Common Dreams -The Trump administration's late Friday announcement that it would move ahead with a ban on transgender service members in the military—which has previously been rejected as unconstitutional in court rulings—was met with anger and condemnation by LGBTQ rights groups on Saturday.

Under the new policy proposal, transgender Americans "who require or have undergone gender transition are disqualified from military service," while transgender troops currently serving will essentially be asked to deny their own gender identity, as the Pentagon will be able to demand that they serve according to the gender they were assigned at birth. The Pentagon will also be empowered to make exceptions to the restrictions.

The announcement comes months after Trump first threatened to ban transgender Americans from serving in the military, in a series of tweets last July.

In October, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that such a policy would be unconstitutional because it was based on "disapproval of transgender people generally."

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