Pence secretly drafted Trumps latest transgender military ban

[riversedge]

Source: thinkprogress




Junk science informed the new order, not military readiness.
Zack Ford
Mar 25, 2018, 12:51 pm



When President Trump announced a new ban on transgender people serving in the military late Friday, it was somewhat of a surprise — Defense Secretary Jim Mattis had reportedly recommended in February that Trump allow transgender people to serve. It turns out that Vice President Pence and some of the country’s most prominent anti-LGBTQ activists had a role in reversing the outcome, which explains why the report explaining the decision is rife with anti-trans junk science.

Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern reported Friday night that, according to multiple sources, Pence played “a leading role” in creating the report, along with Ryan T. Anderson of the Heritage Foundation, which has been dubbed “Trump’s favorite think tank,” and Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council (FRC), an anti-LGBTQ hate group. Both Heritage and FRC praised the report Friday. According to Stern’s reporting, it was true that Mattis favored allowing transgender military service, but Pence “effectively overruled” him.

A separate source independently confirmed to ThinkProgress Saturday that Pence was involved, characterizing him as forming his own ad hoc “working group,” including Anderson and Perkins, separate from the panel of experts Mattis had assembled. Though it bears Mattis’ signature, the report released Friday appears to reflect the findings of Pence’s working group and not the committee report that Mattis submitted to Trump last month. Mattis’ original document is not currently publicly available, but it was widely reported that Mattis favored an inclusive approach that resembled what had originally been proposed by Defense Secretary Ash Carter under President Obama in 2016.

How exactly Pence overruled Mattis’ recommendation over the past month the source did not know. But his working group’s influence is apparent. In particular, the report features numerous anti-trans talking points that FRC and other anti-LGBTQ groups have used in various campaigns favoring discrimination against transgender people. It also attempts to distort the research on transgender health in ways that directly parallel Anderson’s recently released book, When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment. Anderson likewise argued in his book against supporting trans people in their gender transitions, and the recommendations in the report rely on a strikingly similar framing.

Asked directly on Saturday whether he was involved in the report, Anderson cheekily responded in a series of tweets that “there’s no evidence” he was involved in crafting the report, but he repeatedly refused to directly deny his participation.

“‘Privacy” concerns and “unit cohesion”

One of the most obvious biases in the new report is an emphasis on concerns about how transgender people in the military might somehow infringe on the privacy of other soldiers — particularly women. .........................

One of the overarching themes in both the report and Anderson’s book is that the “quality” of the research showing the benefits of transition is allegedly subpar......................................

Read more: https://thinkprogress.org/pence-responsible-for-trump-transgender-military-ban-f4d3b67bde47/

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The article gives lots of examples. So much damage is being done. so so so much.

Link to tweet

[Trust Buster]

1. I know that Spanky and mothers husband didnt serve in the military. How pathetic to deny

Those brave souls that are willing to make the commitment that their deniers refused to make.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. If this is just a taste of Pence, then we'd better impeach both of them

after the Democrats have the majority in the House and Senate.

[C Moon]

9. He's even more dangerous because the public will see him as a breath of fresh air

compared to Trump's "naughtiness."

[oasis]

17. +1

[RhodeIslandOne]

3. He needs to go as well

Everyone in that White House needs to go, period.

[BigmanPigman]

4. I'll use that photo as reference when I draw his face on the

communion wafers I bought on-line 2 weeks ago. Since his hair is white I won't be wasting my expensive edible marker ink. I bought them before since they are tasty and they are only thing I miss about religion (I was given the choice when I was very young and chose to sleep late on week ends, thank you). My family is a bunch of atheists who aren't afraid of burning in Hell. We are having Easter in name only... It is an excuse to get together and bitch about the GOP, catch up on recent events, etc. I am serving the wafers along with salsa and guac. YUMMY!

[Corgigal]

5. Might want to stop thinking

about everyone sex life, well except your boss. These people just can't mind their own business.

[LittleGirl]

6. It's utterly creepy to watch Pence watch IQ45

Every single time...it creeps me out.

[Oneironaut]

14. Hes dreaming of the day he ousts Drumpf, just like what Jay-sus whispered in his ear to do.

[LittleGirl]

15. Pastor Pence

hears Jesus. lolo....

[madaboutharry]

7. Pence is a terrible person.

He is a religious zealot and a homphobe. He would be a horrible president.

[Solly Mack]

8. Pence looks as if he is plotting Trump's uh...departure.

But to be honest, Pence looks at almost everyone that way. Like he wishes them dead.

[riversedge]

12. He certainly is laying the groundwork. But does it quietly.

[SunSeeker]

10. Well duh, Trump is incapable of writing anything.

He is just letting the extreme right wing run the country...if you can call the destruction they're heaping on us "running the country."

[forgotmylogin]

11. This is the "T-people do it to see nekkid people illicitly" scaremongering.

The wingers like to make people believe everything devolves to and is motivated by sexual gratification. "They'll spy on yer wimmin and children!" Which is patently untrue.

In fact, the people facing the most danger in public restrooms are transgender people themselves, and forbidding them from using the restroom that aligns with their gender identity is simply allowing that danger to continue. "Transgender individuals experience extremely high rates of harassment and violence when forced to use restrooms that accord with the sex assigned to them at birth," Chase Strangio, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union's LGBT & HIV Project, tells SELF. Not only that, but anyone—cisgender or transgender—whose appearance or behavior doesn't align with gender norms is at risk. "Many people who transgress gender norms, particularly people of color, experience high rates of harassment and violence in restrooms," Strangio says.

https://www.self.com/story/public-restrooms-are-more-dangerous-for-transgender-people-than-anyone-else

45 also tried to frame it as all the medical procedures applying to transition being too expensive for the military to handle:

In announcing he would ban transgender people from the military, President Donald Trump cited “the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail.” Whether the cost is “tremendous” is opinion, but a government-funded report found that allowing transgender people to openly serve in the military would likely have a “marginal impact” on health care costs and military readiness.

The report, released last year by the RAND Corp., estimated the additional cost at “between $2.4 million and $8.4 million annually, representing a 0.04- to 0.13-percent increase in active-component health care expenditures.” It also found that “less than 0.1 percent of the total force would seek transition-related care that could disrupt their ability to deploy.”

https://www.factcheck.org/2017/07/trump-transgender-service-members/

[SpankMe]

13. Do I look surprised? n/t

[Hortensis]

16. No surprise. We know others feed him many of his poisonous notions.

[marble falls]

18. We need to get rid of Pence when Cheetolini goes down after the election. Imagine: President Pelosi!