No, Secretary of Defense James Mattis has not frozen Trump's military transgender ban as reported by USA Today and WaPo:
Almost everyone is jumping all over this as an indication of --what? Rebellion in the Pentagon?
Not so fast: Mattis is just laying out the procedure for implementing Trump's policy:
The ban doesn't take effect until March 23, 2018, after the "relevant studies" have been conducted. The fact that the military studied this issue for two years before Obama instituted the open service policy for trans service members seems to have gotten lost in the excitement. Oh, wait -- that was under Obama, and Trump is doing his best, along with the Republicans in Congress, to erase the memory of Obama completely.
Rumor has it that we can think Tony Perkins for the ban. Why am I not surprised? Since he's lost on equal marriage and equal rights for gays and lesbians, I guess he has to find a new vulnerable group to persecute. Unless he gets Trump to rescind open service by lesbian and gay service members.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis announced Tuesday that he is freezing the implementation of President Trump’s ban on transgender people serving in the military, saying that he will first establish a panel of experts to provide advice and recommendations on how to carry out Trump’s directive.
The Pentagon confirmed the move in a statement attributed to Mattis, saying that he will first develop a study and implementation plan “as directed” by the president in a memorandum released Friday. Soon-to-be arriving political appointees at the Defense Department “will play an important role in this effort,” Mattis added. The plan will address both the potential for transgender people looking to serve in the military for the first time and transgender troops who already are serving.
Almost everyone is jumping all over this as an indication of --what? Rebellion in the Pentagon?
Not so fast: Mattis is just laying out the procedure for implementing Trump's policy:
This framing is an extreme mischaracterization of the facts. Mattis did not “freeze” the trans ban, and he is not “buy[ing] time” in some potentially insubordinate effort to buck Trump. In reality, the secretary is doing exactly what Trump directed him to do in a recent memo.
The ban doesn't take effect until March 23, 2018, after the "relevant studies" have been conducted. The fact that the military studied this issue for two years before Obama instituted the open service policy for trans service members seems to have gotten lost in the excitement. Oh, wait -- that was under Obama, and Trump is doing his best, along with the Republicans in Congress, to erase the memory of Obama completely.
Rumor has it that we can think Tony Perkins for the ban. Why am I not surprised? Since he's lost on equal marriage and equal rights for gays and lesbians, I guess he has to find a new vulnerable group to persecute. Unless he gets Trump to rescind open service by lesbian and gay service members.
No comments:
Post a Comment