This recent event deeply frustrated me as I’m sure it will any of you who are reading it. America as a nation has grown tremendously in the acceptance of people as humans rather than labels that consume our views of them, and I believe this action is taking a step in the completely opposite direction. The elite academies that educate officers for the nation's armed forces have begun to implement the Trump administration's ban on transgender service members. Why you ask? I do not know the proper answer, although if I had to guess it would have something to do with paychecks and job opportunities (or their lack of). Specifically, The U.S. Naval Academy will ban people who are transgender from attending the school, beginning with the 2020 school year. The Defense Department confirmed that change to the Capital Gazette newspaper on Monday. The school in Annapolis, Maryland, currently accepts transgender students and retains midshipmen who transition to another gender. The Obama administration had lifted restrictions on transgender service members in 2016, allowing them to serve openly, and covered gender affirmation surgery. A current Naval Academy student, Midshipman Regan Kibby, is one of six service members suing the Trump administration over its ban. As I believe they are rightly assumed to be pursuing these accusations, I personally hope they are able to achieve whatever makes them happy for not only them but the minority they are representing and feel as if they are treated with respect by all.
This can be closely related to the “don’t ask, don’t tell” saying that was preached during Clinton’s presidency basically saying that you could be homosexual in the military as long as nobody knew about it, but if you were found out, you would be removed.
It is so shocking to see such a leap backwards for civil rights in this country, and I believe this event just further cements the extremely large conservative pushback against rights from minorities seen as of late.
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