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.
Ros-Lehtinen was a pretty reliable conservative for a long time. Now that she’s (thankfully) retiring she’s gone off the rails.
Commander in chief means something, doesn’t it? Or does the Constitution say the President must obey Congress regarding the way our armed services run?
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen has a daughter who thinks she is a man.
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen has a daughter who thinks she is a man.
________
I just going to post that these congressmen and women must have “close to home” situations. . . .and are not considering the “common good” of the republic.
OOOOOH. . .I hate it when I make a grammatical error :)
If someone thinks they were born a human when they "feel" they should have been born a bird - one that can fly free... IT'S OK WITH ME.
I have no problem with that person getting surgery - having feathers inserted under their skin - 'work done' to make their nose look like a beak. ETC.
But not on MY tax dollars... Not on my dime. The military should NOT have their effectiveness cut by 'birdmen' and 'trans' getting costly operations done that require them to be stateside and close to their doctors for a year or two at a time.
If a man thinks he's a woman he can pay for his own damn surgery - same with people who 'feel' they're really birds. Pay for your own surgery.
Enabling mental illness is not kindness nor mercy.
Go the the opensecrets.org link ( ie the second link in the list of largest democratic donors google presents.)
Use Wikipedia to read the biography of the top donors to the Democrats.
Two of the donors within the first 15 and his/her or her/his total donations will explain every single policy initiative you question.
Again, money talks. ie buys what you want. I kid you not.
One persons biography will floor you! It did me. Hint - Airborne.
Some secrets are more open than others.
It may be on the wrong side of history. History may record that the United States military was so thoroughly corrupted and debased by Obama that the damage was unrecoverable before we were drawn into the inevitable conflict that looms on the near horizon.
McCain is a Senator from Arizona. He would not be part of a House bill. The Senate and House do separate agendas and then eventually it gets to the Senate and they vote most of the time.
The meaningless, empty phrase “the wrong side of history” is supposed to pass as some kind of viable argument, I guess?
Because a good deal of homeless vets are straight white men.
History shows that societies that depopulate and hire out foreign mercenaries who refuse to assimilate are on a path to failure, examples include The Roman Empire, Greek states, and others. The western world follows in the footsteps of the Romans in depopulation and foreign mercenaries.
And, the “other side of history” won two world wars, ended black slavery in the U.S., reached the moon in under a decade, conquered polio, and many, many other stellar accomplishments.
THIS current “side of history” can’t even deal with a bunch of third-world ragheads, get rid of HIV/AIDS, or keep men out of women’s rooms.
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