Mattis Is Holding Up Trump’s Transgender Military Ban

Secretary Mattis
Wasn't Mattis supposed to be the no-nonsense tough guy? Doesn't he know what is good for the military?

Secretary of Defense, General Mattis, announced that all transgender individuals currently serving in the army will be able to continue to serve until the Department of Defense and Homeland Security completes their studies on the feasibility of transgenders in the military.

“Once the panel reports its recommendations and following my consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, I will provide my advice to the president concerning implementation of his policy direction,” Mattis said in the statement issued on Tuesday.

“In the interim, current policy with respect to currently serving members will remain in place.”

Mattis added that he would provide the president with appropriate guidance, “including any necessary interim adjustments to procedures, to ensure the continued combat readiness of the force until our final policy on this subject is issued.”

Back in July, President Trump announced a policy change through Twitter, stating that, “After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military.” Trump added, “Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail.”

It should be noted that the transgender policy was added by Obama just last June, as he was exiting office, and was widely seen as an attempt by Obama to cripple the effectiveness of the military, and advance yet another bizarre Liberal social engineering experiment. The change in policy that Trump is pushing for is simply a return to the common-sense policy that the military has operated under for all but the past year. This policy was only enacted in the last 6 months of the Obama administration, yet no complaints were raised by any liberal prior to Obama’s radical order.

Mattis argued that the Pentagon shall work upon Trump’s instructions and that “we will develop a study and implementation plan, which will contain the steps that will promote military readiness.”

He stated that the Defense Department “will carry out the president’s policy direction, in consultation with the Department of Homeland Security. As directed, we will develop a study and implementation plan, which will contain the steps that will promote military readiness, lethality, and unit cohesion, with due regard for budgetary constraints and consistent with applicable law.”

Mattis indicated that they are looking to establish a “panel of experts” consisting of people from within the Department of Defense and Homeland Security to carefully reflect upon Trump’s order.

“Our focus must always be on what is best for the military’s combat effectiveness leading to victory on the battlefield,” he expressed.

Unsurprisingly, nearly 140 House Democrats signed a letter protesting Trump’s reversion of policy, claiming that, “Implicitly, your ban denies the value of transgender service members, and it questions the professionalism of those who serve beside them.”

It should be noted that rates of mental disorders such as suicide, depression, and schizophrenia in transgenders is multiple orders of magnitude larger than those in the general population – Are these the same people we really want to be armed near our troops?

Adam Campbell is a former military brat, who grew up all over the world--but considers Milwaukee, WI, where he and his wife currently live, to be his home. He enjoys reporting the real news, without bias.