Congress Can Act on Trans Military Ban

Transgender military veterans at last month's VMAs

Interesting article from the ACLU about the recent U.S. Senate amendment that would block a major part of Trump’s ban on transgender service members for those currently enlisted. The piece notes that despite some reports, Secretary James Mattis is studying how to implement the ban, not whether to institute it.

On Monday, Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Susan Collins of Maine introduced a bipartisan amendment to the defense authorization bill that would block President Trump’s disgraceful and unconstitutional ban on transgender service members for those currently enlisted. To be clear, the amendment would not halt every aspect of the ban — such as blocking transgender service members from receiving necessary transition-related health care — but it would lay down an important line in the sand. 

Senators will now have a choice to make. They can either stand up for the thousands of transgender service members who volunteered to defend this country and serve with distinction in the armed forces, or they can stand with the ugly discrimination of Trump’s ban. 

Read on HERE.