For Surely Someday...

lil-lycanthropy asked:

Ew I heard America passed a bill banning trans people from joining the military? (I'm not American forgive if I'm wrong) But oml fuck Trump honestly

transcriptroopers answered:

Actually please make it well known that there’s been no bill passed as of yet. The Secretary of Defense was supposed to implement the official policy of accepting transgender service members by July 1st, but they opted for a six month delay. During this delay, Trump became very public about how he would be banning transgender service members. While the president is at the top of the Chain of Command in the army, he still has to go through various channels to actually get the ban implemented. He PLANS to reinstate the bill. The bill has not been reinstated.

Our biggest problem is that the government keeps doing these things and then we keep thinking there’s nothing we can do. In this case, spreading the information that he’s passed a bill makes it seem like a much harder fight than the one it really is: getting the original bill that was postponed to pass in six months. As far as we know it hasn’t been scrapped yet. It’s still a huge deal that the Commander in Chief has proclaimed this but saying it doesn’t make it law.

So what’s important is
1) spreading correct information and
2) what can be done about it while
3) encouraging ACTION

Even if you can’t protest on street corners or donate to relevant advocate groups, the least you can do is send a letter to the Secretary of Defense

Jim Mattis
Secretary of Defense
1000 Defense Pentagon
Washington, DC 20301-1000

Tell him that you support in no uncertain terms the inclusion of transgender service members in all branches of military service. Tell him you demand the same constitutionally provided respect and equality for them as he would provide any other service member. Tell him that it’s his responsibility as the Secretary of Defense to ensure the success, camaraderie, and morale of the United States Armed Forces.

This is a case where the reaction to this decision, this unofficial not-on-the-books not-yet-legalized decision, is more important than the initial action. Please by all means do whatever you can to spur people to action in the next few days and for the next six months.

-Kingsley

scriptsoldier

Update 7/27/2017

Confirmed: Trump gave his Secretary of Defense (whose entire purpose for being on the cabinet is…get this…defense, aka the armed forces) twenty-four hours notice before making the announcement that he would ban transgender service members. Mattis is on the record not only saying that what Trump said is not law, but what he’s done is appalling. Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford Jr is on the record stating that they won’t be doing anything about this proposed ban until official guidance is received, which it has not been, and that in the meantime they’re still under the impression that they’re implementing the LIFTING of the ban in January 2018.

tl;dr how it happened: The snap decision was made in regards to a nearly 800 billion dollar debate over a federal spending budget that include Trump’s infamous wall proposal. The bill was in serious trouble and going down fast, one of the roadblocks being the debate regarding transgender healthcare for service members. No one could agree whether or not to allow surgeries. Trump was asked to chime in and he responded with the blind-siding tweets completely disallowing trans service members entirely, a move his own staff weren’t even prepared for. In other words, Trump was losing the funding he needed to fulfill his campaign promises and he needed a scapegoat to

1) distract everyone (what a surprise)
2) justify the funding by abruptly cutting out a group of service members from healthcare

Full explanation in link below

And it wasn’t even a successful scapegoat like literally even Republicans weren’t asking for this (well some were because you know GOP) and now they’re pissed off at him too.

So yes I want you all to be aware that the reason Trump issued this sudden about face on policy is literally because the spending bill that contained his budget for building The Wall ™ was going to flop. He used trans service members as a distraction in the hopes of getting his wall funds.

And I’d like to add that we don’t know whether Trump’s announcement will only affect active duty service members or whether he wants to cut all trans veterans period. The Williams Institute estimates there’s around 130,000 transgender veterans, many of whom are likely receiving trans-related healthcare through the VA. So for anyone saying this decision is only affecting a few thousand people, it’s affecting at least 130,000.

On that note, allowing transgender people into the military would not grossly inflate the military’s spending on healthcare as so often quoted. RAND, a non-profit think tank specifically researching data relevant to the armed forces, estimates that allowing trans service members would only increase the health care costs by between 0.04 and 0.13% depending on whether you lowball or highball the estimations. This isn’t even taking into account that some trans people don’t want or can’t have hormonal therapy or only want hormonal therapy but not surgery and the like so it’s possible the number is that much smaller. The only other source that quotes a higher number (Family Research Council: openly anti-LGBT) won’t provide any research or statistics that account for their estimate. As in like. Won’t even respond to requests for these things.

If you follow my advice given in OP and write a letter to Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, here’s some cheat sheet facts for you to include in your letter if you want:

-retired General forty years
-MARINE he’s a marine don’t call him a soldier
-Nickname “Mad Dog”
-First vet to receive waiver to serve in government after only three years retired
-Combat vet
-Actually pretty good bipartisan support like honestly he was a good choice for SOD given our options
-Intelligent and well-read very interested in military history
-Supported diversity initiatives while serving and mandated sensitivity and equal opportunity training
-Outspoken and zero tolerance regarding soldier abuse and neglect of civilians
-No qualms about removing toxic leadership (you’d be surprised how reluctant the military is to do this ngl)
-Hates wasting soldiers’ time
-Often put himself with his comrades instead of sitting back comfortably/frequently entered combat zones just to be there

You can also write a letter to

Joint Staff Public Affairs
9999 Joint Staff Pentagon, Room 2D932
Washington DC, 20318-9999

This is an address to an office not Dunford himself that’s why I recommend mailing Mattis directly but hey it can’t hurt to just shotgun letters

Speaking of which talk to your city council and your senators and your governors and basically just send letters and make phone calls letting them know your feelings on this stuff, because even if they don’t control anything on the federal level this move might inspire some states to start making moves and we want to nip that in the bud ASAP.

Listen even if you hate the military trans people have the right to serve and to be respected and cared for as much as any other service member. I enlisted to escape from potential homelessness/poverty/abusive living situation/college money and tbh any one of those reasons is a good reason to join the military imo and you betcha trans people have those same problems they’re trying to escape. If they’re willing to put in the sweat and tears everyone else does they should not be banned from service over the sake of a wall.

If you want me to write a list of convincing sentences to put in your letters by god I’ll do it. Just. Literally just tell Mattis “I support transgender service members” even if that’s all you write please write it please talk to this man he’s willing to listen he’s not on board with this he’s been in the process of allowing trans service members and most of all he’s of the generation that responds most favorably to letters and personalized messages. He’s willing to listen to you please I know he’s another old white military dude but please talk to this man.

Sources:
Trump’s snap decision
Bipartisan outrage
RAND’s Data
Family Research Council’s response
Mattis is appalled
Trans numbers of veterans
Mattis bio
Mattis bio again
Dunford won’t implement ban
“We will continue to treat all of our personnel with respect.” - Dunford