Trans People Should Not Be Banned From Military
There is a current trend across the United States that is limiting rights among minorities, including transgender people. President Trump has banned people that identify as transgender from joining the military. They have banned people who have undergone gender transition from enlisting. It also requires military personnel to serve as their biological gender unless they began a gender transition under more open Obama administration rules. This is a debate that has been going on for some time, even before the Obama Administration when Obama finally broke through some of the barriers. The US should lift the ban on transgender troops being in the military because it would mean the loss of many troops and it would discriminate against trans people.
The government should lift the ban because transgender troops are a big part of the US military. The US military has about 14,700 active troops that identify as transgender which is a big chunk of the military that would be abolished putting the US military at a disadvantage. To quote Armed Services Chair Adam Smith: “We have the best military in the world. We need highly qualified people to serve and to single out a particular group — to discriminate against them and to say they cannot serve — is bad for national security.” If the US Armed Service Chair believes that transgender people should be allowed to serve, then the argument against them seems pretty unclear.
Banning people just because they identify as transgender is discrimination for no particular reason. Many higher ranking members of the military state that while transgender troops may require certain medical attention, they have had no problem with any sort of misbehavior or opposition from transgender troops. Banning people from serving their country is basically alienating them and effectively dividing the country. We have the concept of inalienable human rights, including the rights to live safely, freely, and without fear of discrimination, and transgender people are included in this, so preventing them from enlisting in the armed forces is a violation of their rights.
Some people think that the other troops should not have to sit through trans sensitivity and politically correct classes. The reason that people might support this decision is that they believe it takes too much time away from the troops training and might make them uncomfortable or go against their religious values. While this point of view is valid, it also goes against many peoples morals such as kindness, compassion, and equality. Everyone after the age of 18 should have the right to volunteer to fight for our country. It is ridiculous that some people don’t even have the option to do something good for our country just because of their identity.
We should stop discriminating against an innocent group of people and fight for transgender individuals and their right to serve their country. Transgender people are a big part of the military and if we removed them the Army would be weaker and divided based on values. None of the chiefs of the armed forces have submitted complaints about transgender people being unreasonable or taking advantage of people. They are reasonable human beings just like me and you, so the fact that they have decided to change their gender should not affect their ability to put their life on the line for the safety of our country.
