The recent news that transgendered individuals will be banned from serving in the military came out of nowhere, given that it was not too long ago that trans people were first allowed to openly serve. Since then, I've seen some backlash on social media, but less than the now-infamous 'covfefe' typo received. Because of that, I feel it is necessary to address this turn of events in an article of my own.
Some have argued that this decision is for the good of trans individuals, as gender dysphoria is crippling and puts everyone in harm's way in battle. This is demonstrably false. Thousands of trans people have served in the military, and gender dysphoria has not caused them to fall over in the heat of battle and die like some would expect of them. Even with constant persecution exacerbating the issue, the stress caused by gender dysphoria has not prevented trans individuals from serving, even as Navy Seals.
Trump is not worried about safety, anyways. Trump says he is worried about medical costs of gender-related surgeries and treatments "burdening" the military. The Pentagon has commissioned a study that said costs would be negligible. Several Republicans- including Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain himself- have opposed this policy as being entirely pointless and harmful. A number of past and present military serviceman, cis and trans alike, have spoken out against the policy as being harmful more than anything.
This "risk" presented to the wellbeing and financial security of the military and its members by allowing trans people to serve is about as real as the "risk" of women being raped by people pretending to be trans if we allow trans people to use their preferred bathroom- which is to say that it's not really a risk at all, but people will still continue to act as if there is. Historically it's baseless and data from states that already allow it proves that rape rates have not risen in those areas, as does testimony from police officials in said areas, but people will still irrationally fear it out of oftentimes subconscious biases.
No amount of reason is making a difference here because these decisions aren't being made with reason, they're being made with knee-jerk emotional reactions. People aren't willing to educate themselves enough to change that, and there are too many people in power who are willing to take advantage of this ignorance. Hopefully, enough pressure can be mounted to undo this reckless decision.
