Tweeted About Instituting a Ban on Transgender People Serving in the Military
Yesterday, President Trump took to Twitter to announce that transgender people were no longer permitted to serve in the U.S. military "in any capacity."
Trump says the associated “tremendous medical costs” played a role in his decision, but as the Washington Post pointed out, our military spends somewhere between 2.4 and 8.4 million annually on medical treatment for transgender service members and $84 million annually on erectile dysfunction medications.
This isn’t about the money; it’s about pandering to the far right through haphazard bigotry. Since, as of now, the ban exists only as a series of tweets, we do not know any details.
But if we are to believe the president, transgender people are no longer welcome to serve their country.
Filed Brief Stating The Civil Rights Act Should Not Apply To LGBT Individuals
The Trump administration was busy yesterday—this wildly regressive piece of news almost slid under the radar. While the president was announcing that trans people were no longer allowed to die for their country, Jeff Sessions’ Department of Justice was filing an amicus brief that stated a key provision of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 should not apply to the LGBT community. Title VII under the Civil Rights Act, protects employees against discrimination based on “the basis of race, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy or gender identity) or religion.”
The ACLU had this to say about the brief:
“On the day that will go down in history as Anti-LGBT Day, comes one more gratuitous and extraordinary attack on LGBT people’s civil rights. The Sessions-led Justice Department and the Trump administration are actively working to expose people to discrimination.”
Rescinded Bathroom Protections For Transgender Students
Back in February, President Trump rescinded protections for transgender students which allowed them to use the bathroom of their choice. God forbid a child, one of whom has likely been through more in their short life than Trump has in all his 71 years, gets to use the bathroom of the gender they identify with.
That’s what this country needs, a crackdown on transgender students; their lives have been too good and too easy for too long.
Removed “Gender Identity” and “Sexual Orientation” From 2020 Census
The census is completed every ten years, and the upcoming 2020 census was, for the first time, planning to include questions on gender identity and sexual orientation. Not anymore. Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services removed the questions. This is a massive issue. The census is completed so the government can gauge the breakdown of its population and—at least in theory—implement legislation that addresses current demographics.
Leaving these questions off the forms entirely are a way to ensure the LGBTQA+ community remains underrepresented.
Essentially, the government is pretending a significant swath of their population does not exist.
Rescinded Discrimination Protections for LGBT Federal Employees
In June of 2014, Barack Obama signed an executive order that banned federal contractors from discriminating against employees based on sexual orientation. On March, 27th of 2017, Donald Trump signed an executive order rescinding many of the core provisions of the ban thereby opening the door for legalized discrimination once again.
Filed Motion To Potentially Remove LGBT Discrimination Protections in Health Care
As Think Progress noted, Section 1577 of the Affordable Care Act “prohibits discrimination based on race, skin color, national origin sex, age, or disability.” The Trump DOJ filed a motion on May, 2nd which requested to the “opportunity to reconsider the regulation at issue in this case.”
As of today, Section 1577 has not been altered, but its future is uncertain as it’s clearly in this administration’s crosshairs.
Ed. Sec. Betsy Devos Refused To Say LGBT Students Would Be Protected In Fed-Funded Private Schools
The master plan of current Education Secretary Betsy Devos is to implement a massive private and charter school voucher system. During a Senate Subcommittee hearing in June, Devos was asked over and over again if private schools who received federal funds would be permitted to discriminate against LGBT students. And every time she was asked she refused to answer. Or, technically she did answer, with the same non-answer 14 times.
This was her way of saying, “no” without actually saying it.
So, if you’re keeping score: when trans individuals are children they can’t use the bathroom of their choice, and when they’re older they may be subject to legalized employee discrimination and they may not be able to receive adequate health care. They’re also do not deserve to be recognized as a population according to the U.S. government, and they’re not allowed to serve their country in the military.
And—sans the bathroom and military law—these actions directly impact the LGB portion of the acronym as well.
As I said back in November, Trump was never a friend to the LGBTQA+ community. That narrative never made any sense.
Previously published on The Overgrown.
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