Today, the National Center for Transgender Equality applauds the introduction of bipartisan legislation in the House of Representatives that would stop the ban and eventual purge of transgender military service members announced by President Trump.
NCTE’s Executive Director Mara Keisling commented:
Transgender people have been honorably serving for decades, and thousands have been serving openly since June 2016. Far from ‘doing the military a favor,’ President Trump’s reckless policy-by-tweet has already created confusion up and down the ranks. It has been terrible for individual trans service members, but just as critically, it has been bad for military readiness and morale. The military cannot afford a purge of thousands of trained, capable troops. The clock is ticking, and Congress must act to protect our service members before the purge begins.
The House bill, introduced by Representatives Jackie Speier (D-CA), Charlie Dent (R-PA), Susan Davis (D-CA), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Adam Smith (D-WA), and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), mirrors a Senate bill introduced last month by Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Susan Collins (R-ME), John McCain (R-AZ), and Jack Reed (D-RI).
Under the policy tweeted by President Trump in July and formalized in August, the Pentagon must develop a plan to begin purging transgender service members by March 2018.
