By David Remnick
...Let’s begin with the retrograde cruelty. (click here) There are thousands of transgender people already serving among the 1.3 million active-duty members of the military. These are people who have volunteered their service and have potentially put their lives on the line, and yet their President, who managed to come up with a flimsy doctor’s note back in the day, denies them their dignity, their equality. He will not “accept or allow” them in the military. Imagine the scale of this insult....
We don't know because people didn't worry about it until Same Sex Marriage became a political issue. Why did it become a GOVERNMENT political issue? Because of Texas and it extremist right wing evangelicals that covet government as if the Bible gives them the authority to do so. The problem is the break down of the wall between church and state. This is a prime example of how personal choices become directives in government that started with the Hyde Amendment.
By Noga Tarnopolsky
Gay Pride Parade in Tel Aviv.
...Retired Gen Elazar Stern (click here) was stupefied when a reporter from Israel Army Radio called Wednesday to ask for his reaction to President Trump’s series of tweets about banning the service of transgender military personnel.
“What?” Stern asked. “Why?”
“It makes us strong that we don't waste time on questions like this," said Stern, the former commander of the Israel Defense Forces Manpower Command. "It’s something to be proud of."
Speaking with The Times, Stern, now a member of Israel’s parliament for the centrist Yesh Atid party, said that throughout his 34-year career in the army, “in every post, at every level, always, I knew there were homosexual individuals serving with me. No transgendered people that I knew of, but maybe. We would never ask, honestly, and we’re not supposed to know. The army’s task is to support its soldiers no matter what their needs, not meddle about in their lives.”...
Ever since the damn evangelicals have taken over Texas politics and the Hyde Amendment became law, they think they can run the country as a theocracy. "marie claire" has some numbers.
July 28, 2015
By Kenny Thapoung
...The life of a transgender person (click here) —in the U.S. and around the world—can be vastly challenging and rife with discrimination. But it can also be joyful, triumphant, and transformative—not just for the individual, but for those who love and accept them....
Basically, 15,000 transgender members in the USA military which is something like 0.1 percent. The cost $15,000 for the sex reassignment surgery. So the cost for the surgery IF EVERY TRANSGENDER MILITARY MEMBER WANTS IT is $225,000,000. You got that? Let me spell it for you; two hundred-twenty-five million dollars US. Donald Trump can pay for it himself without a pain to his pocket book.
Now if Donald Trump finds the military dysfunctional over 0.1 percent of its' members he seriously is looking for a reason to TAKE MATTERS IN HIS OWN HANDS and release a few nukes. That is the ONLY reason this is an issue!
The United States of America is behind the curve in instituting CHILD RIGHTS to a safe and sane childhood when faced with being transgender. When the USA institutes practices allowing transgender children to be a real partner in their country there WON'T BE ANY PROBLEM IN THE USA MILITARY with transgender people.
Right now 'the religious bedroom' is the focus of wackos like Trump when it comes to politics and so here we are AGAIN.
Barbara Starr has been at the epicenter of military issues for as long as I can remember and if she says the Joint Chiefs had no clue, then they had no clue.
Trump is a liar! He treats the US military as a toy in his political and personal wealth ambitions and this is a prime example of same. I am glad General Dunford is the grown up in the room.
July 27, 2017
By Barbara Starr
Washington - The Joint Chiefs of Staff, (click here) including chairman General Joseph Dunford, were not aware President Donald Trump planned to tweet a ban on transgender service members, three US defense officials told CNN -- the latest indication that top military leaders across all four service branches were blindsided by the President's announcement.
For now, Dunford has informed service members that there will be "no modifications to the current policy until the President's direction has been received by the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary has issued implementation guidelines."
"In the meantime, we will continue to treat all of our personnel with respect," Dunford wrote in a memo to the military that was obtained by CNN. "As importantly, given the current fight and the challenges we face, we will all remain focused on accomplishing our assigned missions."
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley said Thursday that, to date, he has not received "directives on implementation" for a ban and learned about the President's decision through the media....
One of the measures that President Obama tried to instill in the USA's educational system was that transgender children can use the bathroom of which they identify. Sounds right to me! From a national security stand point, that is.
