POTUS Ban on Transgender Military Service Members Is Discriminatory and Dangerous

On Wednesday morning, the President announced via Twitter his intention to impose a ban on transgender people serving in the military. In response, Progressive Congress Action Fund issued the following statement:

"The President's announcement of a ban on transgender military service members is discriminatory, unsound policy which will deprive able, capable people of serving and defending our country. Our President has chosen, via Twitter, to announce a reversal of a critical military policy based purely on prejudice, not sound judgment. Are we now going to ban all women from serving in the military, too, despite all evidence that gender has nothing to do with a person's ability to serve?

This is a giant, dangerous step backwards. Our nation's previous "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy did not even ban LGBT service members outright, and all it did was force military members to serve while in the closet. It hurt our troops and established a dangerous culture of undeserved punishment; we are still apologizing to and rectifying the dishonorable discharges of people who were forced to leave the military solely because of their sexual orientation.

Our country is not made safer by hatred and bigotry toward transgender people; it is made safer by our troops, who deserve our full support regardless of gender identity or expression. We urge the President to rethink this policy out of consideration for our national security interests, both foreign and domestic. We need capable men and women to serve in all branches of our military, full stop, and this policy would do nothing but discourage able people from enlisting and or continuing to serve their country."