Early Wednesday morning, President Trump tweeted that transgender Americans will no longer be able to participate in the U.S Military, a reversal of the Obama administration’s decision to allow transgender recruits to enlist. His tweets are as followed: “After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow Transgender individuals or transgender service members 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. Thank you.” 

 

In true Trump fashion, no data nor evidence was provided in support of claims that Transgender enlistees act as a “burden” upon the U.S armed forces due to their “tremendous medical costs and disruption.” Despite President Trump’s lack of reasoning behind this claim, a RAND Corporation study commissioned by the Defense Department outlines estimated medical costs for Transgender service members. According to the study, the total spending of these treatments comes in at around 2.4 million dollars, excluding the likely probability of inaccurate data due to insufficient documentation.  

Furthermore, the RAND study states that “The implication is that even in the most extreme scenario that we were able to identify … we expect only a 0.13-percent ($8.4 million out of $6.2 billion) increase in health care spending [from transgender service members’ health care]. Sorry, but a .13 percent increase in health care spending is hardly “tremendous” and “disruptive,” especially taking into account the service the estimated 15,000 individuals are providing in return.  

Considering Trump’s definition of a “tremendous” financial burden, it’s interesting to note his lack of comment upon the U.S military’s $84 million budget on Viagra, a pill to treat male erectile dysfunction (RAND). To put this into perspective, trans-related health care comprises less than 10% of what the military spends on erectile dysfunction prescriptions such as Viagra.  

Not only do the numbers not support Trump’s claims, his past ‘support’ for the LGBT community provides increased outrage and confusion on his announcement. Though likely a ploy for increased support during his campaign run, Trump tweeted last year, “Thank you to the LGBT community! I will fight for you while Hillary brings in more people that will threaten your freedoms and beliefs.” Unless President Trump is confused as to what the LGBT acronym stands for, it’s clear to acknowledge that his “fight” for LGBT freedoms and beliefs is pretty much nonexistent. 

Numbers and tweets aside, now more than ever, it is important to emphasize the cruciality of understanding both sides of the issues at hand in order to host productive debates and discussions, something the U.S government is extremely lacking currently. Despite this ideology, it’s still rightfully justified to call out discrimination versus having an opinion. Unless Trump can provide factual evidence on this “tremendous” burden members of the LGBT+ community are implementing on the U.S military, there’s no denying that these claims are coming from a place of disrespect and hatred; it’s obvious that this is much more than medical costs. Picking and choosing is not part of the progress we’ve made as a nation of equality, liberty, and justice.  

 

 

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