Posted on 10/14/2017 6:51:18 AM PDT by markomalley
Democratic and Republican members of Congress introduced a bill Friday to block the Pentagon from removing active-duty transgender troops.
Republican Reps. Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida joined Democratic Reps. Jackie Speier of California, Susan Davis of California, Adam Smith of Washington, and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona in introducing the House companion bill to Senate bill S. 1820, that blocks the Department of Defense (DOD) from removing transgender troops based on gender identity.
“Kicking out members of the United States Armed Services solely based on their gender identity is hateful, discriminatory, and on the wrong side of history,” Speier said in a statement Friday. “News flash, Mr. President – thousands of transgender troops already serve our country with pride and dignity. Our military should be focused on recruiting and retaining the best troops, not on rejecting qualified service members on the basis of discrimination.”
The Trump administration’s attempt to prevent transgender individuals from serving openly in the military is a “sad reminder of the dark chapters in our nation’s history,” Ros-Lehtinen stated.
“Congress’ intention with the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was to allow our brave service members to openly serve in our armed forces without fear of being discriminated against,” Ros-Lehtinen said. “The decision by the Administration to not allow transgender individuals to serve in the military is a sad reminder of the dark chapters in our nation’s history that should never be repeated. The courts have usually been forced to adjudicate what constitutes discrimination but once again Congress is saying: no more.”
The legislation would prevent the DOD from kicking out or denying the re-enlistment of transgender troops solely based on gender identity. The bill would also mandate that Secretary of Defense James Mattis complete a full review of policy on transgender recruits and send those findings to members of Congress by the end of 2017.
The American Military Partner Association (AMPA), a pro-LGBT group, applauded the bill’s introduction as a step in the right direction.
“These members of Congress believe all service members, regardless of their gender identity, deserve to be treated with dignity and respect — not shamefully targeted for discrimination by their commander-in-chief,” said AMPA President Ashley Broadway-Mack in a statement. “After being assured by the Defense Department that it was safe to come out, our transgender service members are now facing a great deal of uncertainty, and it’s compounding the strain on their families that already comes with military service.”
Former President Barack Obama’s administration repealed the ban on transgender individuals serving openly in the military in June 2016. Following the repeal of the ban, the Pentagon set a date of one year to fully implement its policy, but on July 26, Trump tweeted out he would not be allowing transgender service members in the military, citing “tremendous medical costs and disruption.”
Trump issued a memo in August to Mattis, giving him a deadline of February 2018 to implement the ban.
Yeah, I thought I saw someplace in some news cycle yesterday that DJT would be attending some sort of “Kill All Gay People” event. Wonder if anyone bothered, if anyone cares, just how many “non-standard” folks are employed by the DJT enterprises. If anyone cared.
This “wrong side of history” is precisely the wrong side of history for anyone with a mature sense of history.
That room was never wired for a bulb.
It was never to be constructed in the first place.
"But for the hardness of your hearts ... "
Of course *every* Rat is fighting *everything* DJT was elected to do.We need to focus on the so called “Republicans”.
Taxpayers are sick of paying $50,000 for surgery for people who think they were born the wrong sex.
What about $50,000 worth of plastic surgery for people who thought they should have been ‘born beautiful’? You want to pay for that? While they’re NOT able to serve overseas because they need to be near their doctors?
Trump isn’t kicking these people out - he’s saying NO MORE... NO MORE can join up.
They really don’t get a vote.
The Constitution is really clear on that. They can threaten funding but they won’t.
I don’t want to play so I don’t want to pay.
Can’t wait until Trump drops a MOAB on Congress and solves this problem once and for all.
How come they’re not fighting this hard for homeless veterans on the street.
It's nonsense that we should have to worry about this. President Trump is Commander in Chief. Elected DC swampthings and the judiciary should have NOTHING to do with the military chain of command.
>sad reminder of the dark chapters in our nation’s history,” Ros-Lehtinen stated.<
I had the wrong impression of the bitch. I thought she was a normal. I guess she grew in office.
Why would anyone want mentally ill people in our military unless you were an enemy of America?
“”members of the United States Armed Services solely based on their gender identity is hateful, discriminatory, and on the wrong side of history””
But it is okay with them when women are given special treatment in the U. S. armed services - aboard ships, submarines and on the battlefield....
Same old - OX and gore.....
“”sad reminder of the dark chapters in our nation’s history,” Ros-Lehtinen stated.””
She used to make sense and was able to reason but I guess she’s not running again so she’s free to speak her mind...
“”On April 30, 2017, Ros-Lehtinen announced that she would not be running for re-election in 2018.[5]””
I’m genuinely shocked McCain isn’t on this list.
Excellent question. Bump!
‘Why would anyone want mentally ill people in our military - - - - ?
Most rats are mentally ill but perceive themselves and all in their bubble as the “normal” ones. They have been in power over 20 years and feel justified in dictating their version of moral standards.
Trump has a huge job cut out for him, I feel fortunate he is in office. He’s far from perfect, but when compared to what we’ve had in power starting with Bill C, he nears being perfect.
Genital mutilation has been banned in a significant number of non Muslim countries. Also, the indiscriminate use of steroids has been against the law by athletes for decades, but not for gender identity disorder. The profoundly disturbed are now setting the agenda.
It looks like some of the congressional pedophiles have been kind enough to identify themselves.
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