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Ms. Gardner
English 10H/Period 5
17 November 2017
On June 30, 2016, when Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter announced that the United States
military’s ban on transgender service had been torn away, many proudly-serving individual’s “eyes
welled with tears of happiness” and they “cried as [they] had never cried before,” including Jennifer Sims,
a United States Army captain and transgender woman (Sims). This marvelous message marked a merry
occasion throughout America, and was motivation for tremendous celebration to Sims and many other
transgender troops. Thousands could now be themselves without fear of discharge, and the comradery
This merriment was short-lived. Just over a year later, just seven months into his presidency,
using 140 characters or fewer, Donald Trump announced a policy banning transgender people to serve in
the military. A policy that is unfair. A policy that negatively impacts over one million people. A policy
which wrecks the very road for equality which us, Americans, have been driving along ever since our
founding fathers declared that “all men are created equal,” and since Martin Luther King Jr. proclaimed
his dream for the future, and Barack Obama told us “Every single American - gay, straight, lesbian,
bisexual, transgender - [...] deserves to be treated equally in the eyes of the law and in the eyes of our
society.”
One of the lame excuses used by our inadequate leader, Donald Trump, behind unjustly banning
transgenders from military service is that the costs of helping with medical care for transitioning service
members would be too costly. However, in a study conducted by the Rand Corporation, it was estimated
that the costs of medical care for transitioning service members would be less than a 0.2% increase in
force-wide costs (Marchant). Trump’s reasoning of “tremendous medical costs” is absolutely illogical.
Furthermore, the military spends ten times as much on unnecessary drugs, such as Viagra, as they would
Further reasoning behind Trump’s ban is that the presence of transgenders could disrupt the
bonds of trust between soldiers in the military, decreasing the army’s effectiveness. This, too, makes no
sense. Jennifer Sims, a transgender woman serving in the army, whom I briefly mentioned before, stated
in her article “I Am a Transgender U.S. Army Officer” that “there have not been any disruptions to the
unit's operations” since she came out as transgender after the ban was lifted in 2016. She went on to write,
“..from what I have experienced, open transgender service strengthens our military” (Sims).
You should find it quite clear, now, that President Trump’s reasoning for banning transgender
service in the army is ludicrous. There is absolutely no reason that someone who is transgender shouldn’t
be allowed to serve their country. According to a Williams Institute study, cited by Landon Marchant in
his article “Why so Many Transgender Americans Find Refuge in Military Service,” there are an
estimated 134,000 transgender army veterans, and as many as 15,500 transgenders on active duty in the
military. These thousands of people serve our country, protect our homes, and keep us safe. And how
does our bigoted president thank them? He tries to throw them out the garbage chute with his disgraceful
remarks. The United States military, having as many as over 15,000 transgenders serving on active duty,
could be made the largest employer of transgender Americans. Marchant, a transgender veteran, says in
his article that transgenders are twice as likely to serve in the military than cisgenders (or people whose
gender identity matches the sex they were assigned at birth). This is because the military offers a sense of
purpose for transgenders, where, overall, they would face higher rates of homelessness, unemployment,
anyone else. Refusing to let transgenders serve their country is refusing to let their country serve them. So
speak up, and don’t sit idly by while your peers are rejected their rights to serve their homeland. Don’t
allow the shallow, few words of a diminutive tweet define the future of your country. Take inspiration
from those who have already refused to be trumped by inequality, such as federal judge Colleen
Kollar-Kotelly, who blocked the transgender ban, ruling it was based on "disapproval of transgender
people generally" (qtd in Philipps). I thank you, judges, officials, and citizens alike, who stand up for the
good of the country and the equality of their people. For we cannot begin to search for unity with other
Marchant, Landon. "Why so Many Transgender Americans Find Refuge in Military Service."
Philipps, Dave. "Judge Blocks Transgender Military Ban." New York Times, 31 Oct, 2017, pp. A.1,
Sims, Jennifer. "I Am a Transgender U.S. Army Officer." New York Times, 28 Jul, 2017, pp. A.27, SIRS