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President Donald Trump announced today that he has decided not to allow transsexuals to serve "in any capacity" in the country's Armed Forces, without specifying when that prohibition will come into effect and thus reversing the opening ordered last year by the Government of Barack Obama.
President Donald Trump announced today that he has decided not to allow transsexuals to serve "in any capacity" in the country's Armed Forces, without specifying when that prohibition will come into effect and thus reversing the opening ordered last year…

For Trump, transsexuals "disturb" the Armed Forces

President Donald Trump announced today that he will not allow transsexuals to serve "in any capacity" in the US Armed Forces.

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In another attempt to get rid of the effects of the Obama Administration, President Trump has made it known, through his Twitter account, that his government "will not accept or allow" transgender individuals to serve "in any capacity" in the Armed Forces.

"Our armed forces must focus on the decisive and overwhelming victory, and cannot be burdened by the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail," the president said in a 140-character message.

In June 2016, President Obama's government declared the opening of military recruitment to transgender people, handing over to then-Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, stipulating that the Pentagon would pay for the costs of some medical services like surgeries and hormone therapy, according to the report of The Hill.

In an unsuccessful attempt to clear any doubts about his support for the LGBT community - which was another of his election promises - Trump has argued that the transsexual community "disturbs" and raises health care costs in the Armed Forces, even though the Department of Defense allocates US $ 8.4 million to treatment of the transgender population, which represents only 0.02% of total annual expenditure, according to EFE.

According to a study published by the Rand Corp, "the costs of the transit of gender are relatively low ... and previous efforts by the integration and the experiences of foreign military forces have indicated a minimum impact in the capacities of the force".

Since 1974, when the Netherlands became the first country in the world to allow homosexuals, bisexuals and transsexuals to join forces, only 18 countries have fully legalized LGBT military service, NewsWeek reported, and one of them was the United States.

Although the American country has been ranked in the 40th most inclusive country for the gay community, according to the Center for Strategic Studies in The Hague - even below Colombia, Chile and Cuba - President Obama's move was trying to progress in these kinds of issues.

But if the new president has left something well clear, it is that Trump’s United States is not a progressive or innovative country.

The government has not yet determined how it will implement this ban within the Armed Forces, which has about 6,600 transsexuals among the 1.3 million members of the military.

Earlier this month, the House of Representatives, controlled by the Republicans, narrowly rejected a budget amendment that banned the use of Pentagon funds for sex-related treatments, although its proponents want to resubmit.

With Defense Secretary James Mattis on vacation, his spokesman, Jeff Davis, merely commented today during a meeting with reporters that Trump's decision was the result of consultations with the Pentagon and forwarded to the White House for further information.

In parallel, Davis said in a statement that the Pentagon "will continue to work closely" with the White House to adopt Trump's new guidelines as "commander-in-chief" of the country's Armed Forces.

During the 2016 election campaign, Trump boasted of being a "friend" to the LGBT community (lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender) and vowed to fight for them if he won the presidency.

Last January, a few days after arriving at the White House, Trump pledged the continuity of an Obama executive order that bans companies with contracts with the federal government from discriminating against their LGBT employees.

But just a month later, Trump overturned a rule, also proclaimed by Obama, that allowed transsexual students to use the bathrooms and changing rooms of their choice according to the genre with which they identify.

The decision announced today by the president, which is a step back on the road to ending discrimination based on sexual orientation in the Armed Forces initiated in 2011 with the cancellation of the policy known as "Don’t ask, don’t tell”, has been criticized by both Democrats and Republican activists and congressmen.

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