Trump’s war on US transgender people, continued

This 27 July 2017 Washington Post video from the USA says about itself:

The Pentagon spends more on Viagra tha[n] it does on transgender medical care

President Trump tweeted that transgender people would be barred from the military, citing their “tremendous medical costs”, but the Pentagon spends less on transgender medical bills than it does on erectile dysfunction medication.

Donald Trump does not only wage war on Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen jointly with the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Niger etc. etc., and maybe next on Venezuela and/or Iran.

He also wages war on the environment in the USA. And on refugees. And on people in the USA: on workers, socialists, women, American footballers, basketballers … and on LGBTQ people. On transgender people.

Translated from Dutch NOS TV today:

Transgender people will be banned from the United States armed forces from next month on. The Ministry of Defense, the Pentagon, has signed a decision for this. President Trump believes that transgender people are disrupting the armed forces.

Some transgender people can stay; these are men and women who have been diagnosed and who have already planned hormone treatment or surgery. They must document their plans before 12 April.

Anyone who announces that they want a change after that date will be fired. People may only continue to work in the armed forces if they dress and behave according to their birth gender, the Pentagon has decided.

President Trump is convinced that transgender people are disrupting the armed forces. But four senior officers said earlier that transgender people don’t cause problems. …

According to Trump, transgender people cost the army a lot of money. The medical costs are very high, he says. Since 2016, the Pentagon has spent around eight million dollars on transgender people. The military’s annual health care budget is around fifty billion dollars.

And the total Pentagon budget is 750 billion dollars.

President Obama had made it easier for transgender people to serve in the armed forces. Trump reversed his predecessor’s plans, after which a number of transgender soldiers went to court. The court agreed with them, but the US Supreme Court then ruled that the armed forces may exclude transgender people.

TRUMP’S TRANSGENDER TROOPS BAN BEGINS The policy, which has been the subject of court challenges, will take effect on April 12. It will bar most transgender individuals from serving if they require hormone treatments or transition surgery, and will affect nearly 2,500 active service members. [HuffPost]

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