America’s first criminal president, Donald Trump, signed four military-related executive orders, including one that bars transgender people from enlisting and serving openly, and one that removes diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in the armed services.
Titled “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness“, the policy states that: “It is the policy of the United States Government to establish high standards for troop readiness, lethality, cohesion, honesty, humility, uniformity, and integrity… This policy is inconsistent with the medical, surgical, and mental health constraints on individuals with gender dysphoria. This policy is also inconsistent with shifting pronoun usage or use of pronouns that inaccurately reflect an individual’s sex.”
Based on the executive order of the extreme right-wing president, the country’s defense department is expected to update its military medical standards within 60 days, promptly “end invented and identification-based pronoun usage”, while also prohibiting people assigned male at birth from using women’s sleeping, changing and bathing facilities.
Typical of Trump’s executive orders attacking the LGBTQIA community, this is – similarly – silent on intersex people.
The Navy, a branch of the military, already released a memo that directs recruiters to reject transgender applicants immediately, stating that under the new Navy guidance, recruits who self-identify as transgender “are not eligible to process for enlistment at this time”, according to Military.com.
The same memo provides a script for recruiters to use when turning away transgender people – i.e. “Thank you for your interest in serving in the United States Navy. Due to recent policy changes, we are unable to process your application at this time. We appreciate your understanding and encourage you to stay connected with your local recruiting office for future updates.”
