Trump’s Transgender Military Ban Sets Back Progress by Abbey Morelli
President Donald Trump’s abrupt decision to ban transgender citizens from serving in the military was the perfect way to ruin the last few weeks of summer. July 26th, 2017, marked the day when thousands of people would wake up, check their twitter accounts, and be greeted with this nightmare:
“After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail,”
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All of them now feeling unwelcome and burdensome, as their president so stated. They will no longer be receiving health care for no reason other than the fact that they were born the wrong biological gender. They did not make this choice, and no one should be allowed to take away their choice to serve their country. The ban obliterates their way of making a living, protecting their country, and most importantly, it infringes on their right to live in the body that they were meant to have. Each year, over three hundred thousand United States citizens apply to serve in the army, navy, and air force. Since Donald Trump’s abrupt decision, our country is losing up to 1,800 service men and women, as they will no longer be considered eligible to serve.
President Trump has officially signed a directive prohibiting new recruits identifying as transgender from joining any branch of the military. The directive also states that the pentagon can no longer pay for the medical treatment of current transgender service members. Although no one could predict Trump’s decision, it is our civic duty to look into our presidential candidates and make educated decisions on what they are capable of doing. This leap away from progress should never have been a