Blowing Smoke: The Transgender Ban as a Distraction
By Rory Mondshein

On Wednesday, July 26, 2017, President Trump made a Twitter announcement that individuals identifying as transgender would be banned from military service due to economic costs and reduced military morale.
President Donald Trump’s political and economic arguments for the Transgender Ban are falsified distractions.
A recent report from the Rand Corporation that outlined the costs of transgender inclusion in the military disproved the economic arguments, found the following.
➢ Not all of the 1,320–6,630 transgender military members will seek transitional treatment.
➢ Even if the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) extended transition services to members, it would result in an annual increase of 0.04% (which is minimal!).
In fact, President Trump’s argument about costs and morale are similar to Smith & Grady v. U.K.. In this case, the British government excluded individuals identifying as homosexual from active military service because they believed that it would reduce overall morale. Using the Proportionality Test, the European Court Of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that the policy unnecessarily restricted rights. Acknowledging the similar facts — including economic and military morale arguments for exclusion — the studies that show that inclusion does not reduce fighting power, and the ECHR decision, the same arguments can be made in the Supreme Court of the United States where this case will likely go.
Now, can we please acknowledge that President Trump’s Twitter announcement about Transgender Service is a distraction away from other current events, including:
➢ The federal investigation into Donald Trump Jr.’s conversations with Russian lawyers, which yields questions about foreign interference in our election?
➢ The Senate’s inability to pass Trumpcare because of 9 Republican defectors, even though President Trump said he would repeal Obamacare on Day 1?
➢ President Trump’s record-low approval ratings?
➢ The ostensible battle with Attorney General Sessions, who (much to the President’s chagrin) recused himself from the Trump Investigation, and the President cannot fire him without yielding questions about his innocence?
LGBTQIA issues are indubitably important, and we should be talking about them all the time because advocacy involves more than just speaking up when it is popular. That said, I do not mean to undermine the very real struggle that trans people face every single day, but I do think it is important to focus on the aforementioned underlying issues that President Trump is trying to hide and give that equal attention/coverage.
