The White House is finally getting around to formalizing Donald Trump's policy-by-tweet transgender ban and is expected to send guidance to the Pentagon within days. Based on a Wall Street Journal report, the policy appears to be crafted with maximum intent to discriminate against transgender individuals in recruitment, retention, and access to health care. WSJ writes:
The White House is expected to send guidance to the Pentagon in coming days on how to implement a new administration ban on transgender people in the military, issuing a policy that will allow Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to consider a service member’s ability to deploy in deciding whether to kick them out of the military.
The White House memo also directs the Pentagon to deny admittance to transgender individuals and to stop spending on medical treatment regimens for those currently serving, according to U.S. officials familiar with the document.
The 2½-page memo gives Mr. Mattis six months to prepare to fully implement the new ban, according to these officials.
Mr. Mattis under the new policy is expected to consider “deployability”—the ability to serve in a war zone, participate in exercises or live for months on a ship—as the primary legal means to decide whether to separate service members from the military, the officials said.
In the wrong hands—and there will be some—this policy could absolutely lead to the very same witch hunts that bigoted commanders once used to force perfectly capable lesbian and gay soldiers out of the military under “don’t ask, don’t tell."
It's a policy looking for a problem—as if we don't have enough problems brewing in the national security arena already.
“Transgender people are just as deployable as other service members,” said Sue Fulton, the former president of Sparta, a military organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people that advocates for open service. “Other service members may undergo procedures when they are at home base, just as other service members schedule shoulder surgery or gall bladder surgery.”