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Editorial on transgenders in military was wrong

To the editor:

I disagree with Thursday’s editorial regarding Trump’s transgender ban. No one should be excluded from the military because of his or her gender identity, regardless of whether he or she has transitioned yet or not.

Trump claims that he is barring transgender people from serving in the military “in any capacity,” because of “tremendous medical costs and disruption.”

The writer of The Sentinel editorial argues that using taxpayer money to fund transition-related medical procedures is wrong and anyone currently undergoing a transition is highly unlikely to be medically fit to serve.

However, a 2016 RAND Corporation study, commissioned by the Department of Defense, found that expanding medical coverage to include care for transgender service members would cost an average median of $5.4 million — a small amount considering that total active-component health care spending adds up to $6 billion every year. In 2014, the military spent $84 million on erectile dysfunction medications. Does the writer of The Sentinel’s editorial have a problem with spending taxpayer money on that kind of medication?

A RAND Corp. study also found that across all military service branches, only an estimated 10 to 130 active trans soldiers would be less deployable every year because of gender transition medical treatments. That’s a drop in the bucket compared with the thousands of non-transgender soldiers who are kept from the front lines for other health reasons — 37,000 in the Army alone in 2015.

Many people disagree with Trump’s views, and unlike The Sentinel’s suggestion that age is a predictor of a person’s views, knowledge seems to be a better predictor.

American Medical Association President David O. Barbe, a grandfather of six, stated, “There is no medically valid reason to exclude transgender individuals from military service. Transgender individuals are serving their country with honor, and they should be allowed to continue doing so.”

Pennsylvania Physician General Dr. Rachel Levine, age 58, says “Absolutely no one benefits from marginalizing people who want to protect our country. Transgender people are just that — people.”

Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth, age 49, who served more than 20 years in the U.S. Army, and reached the rank of lieutenant colonel, remarked, “To have a president who never served, but instead got — what, four, five deferments? — to avoid service in Vietnam be a guy to question someone else’s patriotism because of their gender identity is sickening.”

And finally, Republican Senator John McCain, age 80, called Trump’s ban “a mistake.”

I am grateful for these knowledgeable leaders speaking up against Trump’s bigoted ban. All of our soldiers deserve our support, and our military should be moving forward, and not backward when it comes to the treatment of American soldiers.

Elizabeth Book

Port Royal

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