#transgender-military

#transgender-military

The Trump administration has formalized a process to remove transgender Americans from military service through a seven-page Pentagon memorandum that advocates and legal experts say transforms discrimination into official policy under the guise of "readiness." First reported by the Associated Press and subsequently obtained by The Advocate, the October 8 directive, titled "Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness: Additional Implementation Guidance on Administrative Separations," replaces long-standing procedural safeguards with rules that concentrate authority in the hands of commanders.

Some of our leaders don't really care about all of those who serve our country. The Trump administration is quietly moving forward with plans to involuntarily discharge more than 4,000 brave Americans not because they can't do the job, but because they're transgender. They make some people uncomfortable. In the past, I would have asked my father what he thought about this. Sadly, I can't do that.

Only months ago, in May, after the Supreme Court's partisan supermajority gave its approval to Donald Trump's ban on transgender military service, a Defense Department memo invited trans people with 15 to 18 years of military service to apply for its Temporary Early Retirement Authority program. TERA, as it's called, was created in 1993 for periods of military drawdown; the program gives those with between 15 and 20 years of service deserved benefits such as on-base housing, health insurance, and, of course, pension payments.