Coast Guard Breaks With Trump, Vows To Protect Transgender Service Members

USCGC Alder makes its way through the Grand River channel with USCGC Mackinaw not far behind for Coast Guard Festival on Monday, July 31, 2017 in Grand Haven, Mich. (Kaytie Boomer | MLive.com) (Kaytie Boomer | MLive.com)
US Coast Guard cutter Alder makes its way through the Grand River channel with USCGC Mackinaw not far behind, for the Coast Guard Festival on Monday, July 31, 2017 in Grand Haven, Mich. (Kaytie Boomer/Muskegon Chronicle via AP)
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

After the President announced in a tweet that transgender individuals would not be allowed to serve in the military in “any capacity,” the head of the Coast Guard reached out to all 13 openly transgender Coast Guard personnel and said he would “not break faith” with them.

Commandant Paul Zukunft made these remarks at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies on Tuesday, CNN reported, describing his call to Lt. Taylor Miller, who is the first openly transitioning member of the Coast Guard.

“I told Taylor I will not turn my back. We have made an investment in you and you have made an investment in the Coast Guard,” Zukunft said. “And I will not break faith.”

Last week, President Donald Trump made a haphazard Twitter announcement about the policy change, saying he had consulted with “generals and military experts” about the matter and thinks the military “cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail.”

A Pentagon-commissioned report from 2016 found that there are about 2,450 transgender people serving currently and that it would cost about $2.9 to $4.2 million a year to fund hormone therapy and surgeries. The Department of Defense is currently studying the impact transgender individuals’ medical obligations could have on military readiness.

The President’s announcement on the policy change took the Pentagon and members of the administration by surprise, with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff saying there would be “no modifications” to the current policy until Trump provides guidance to the Department of Defense.   

If his tweets are followed up with any type of formal policy, the move would reverse an Obama-era policy that allowed transgender individuals to serve openly and blocked a person from being discharged from the military solely because they are a transgender, according to policy on the Department of Defense’s website.

Latest Livewire

Notable Replies

  1. Obviously not one of “his” Generals.

    ~snicker~

  2. I suspect the “generals and military experts” he consulted are all named Donald J Trump and served their country in the discos of New York City bravely avoiding STDs.

  3. ‘You think Da Nang was bad? You should have seen Studio 54!’ DJT

  4. I would say the current Commander in Chief is getting just about the level of deference and respect he deserves.

  5. Hey Republicans with presidential aspirations: by the time you get elected there will be nothing left of the office but rubble. All of the good will and all of the prestige will have been drained out of it by Trump just like all his business ventures.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

33 more replies

Participants

Avatar for system1 Avatar for lestatdelc Avatar for fgs Avatar for daveminnj Avatar for kwoodgr Avatar for old_curmudgeon Avatar for clunkertruck Avatar for blandsten Avatar for radicalcentrist Avatar for losamigos Avatar for jmj76255 Avatar for hychka Avatar for mantan Avatar for sickneffintired Avatar for maxaroo Avatar for tao Avatar for dickweed Avatar for benthere Avatar for antisachetdethe Avatar for bankerpup Avatar for lappelson Avatar for centralasiaexpat Avatar for coprophagoussmile Avatar for 10c

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: