Agree:
Barack Obama Former President of United States of America
All Americans who are qualified to serve should be able to serve
Sundar Pichai CEO at Google
I am grateful to the transgender members of the military for their service
Pierre Omidyar Founder at eBay & Omidyar Network
Everyone who takes an oath, puts on a uniform and serves with integrity deserves our gratitude and respect.
Mark Zuckerberg CEO at Facebook
Everyone should be able to serve their country -- no matter who they are
Eric Fanning Army secretary at the end of Obama’s term
How does this impact readiness? How many soldiers are not going to be deployable because of medical care that they’re receiving? And RAND’s analysis ― again, before the accession policy was set with the 18-month stability clause ― was that it would be as low as 29 to as high as 129 service members a year that would require medical, surgical treatment for transitioning. I suspect that number’s goi... See More
Kristin Beck Transgender retired United States Navy SEAL, writer
The money [for transgenders in the army] is negligible, you're talking about .000001% of the military budget.
Ash Carter Former US Secretary of Defense, former Harvard University professor
We must ensure that everyone who’s able and willing to serve has the full and equal opportunity to do so, and we must treat all our people with the dignity and respect they deserve. Regulations regarding transgender service members [i.e. banning open transgender individuals from the US army] are outdated and are causing uncertainty that distracts commanders from our core missions
Colleen Kollar-Kotelly US District Judge
As a form of government action that classifies people based on their gender identity, and disfavors a class of historically persecuted and politically powerless individuals, the president’s directives are subject to a fairly searching form of scrutiny.
John McCain U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ), Chairman of Senate Armed Services Committee
When less than 1% of Americans are volunteering to join the military, we should welcome all those who are willing and able to serve our country. Any member of the military who meets the medical and readiness standards should be allowed to serve -- including those who are transgender.Disagree:
James Mattis United States Secretary of Defense
On my first day as Secretary of Defense, I wrote, ‘Every action we take will be designed to ensure our military is ready to fight today and in the future.’ It is imperative we align our actions to our larger mission and that we disaggregate priorities that increase the lethality of our forces from functions that are wasteful and unnecessary
Elaine Donnelly Founder of the Center for Military Readiness
[Trump] has every right to review, revise, or repeal his predecessor's military transgender policies, which would detract from mission readiness and combat lethality.
Donald J. Trump President of the USA
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
Sarah Sanders @WhiteHouse Press Secretary. Proud to work for @POTUS. Follow me @PressSec for updates
[Trump's transgender military ban was] developed through extensive study by senior uniformed and civilian leaders, including combat veterans.
Steve King US representative for Iowa
We don’t need to be experimenting with the military. Plus there’s no reason to take on that kind of financial burden
Rick Perry 14th Secretary of @Energy and former Governor of Texas.
The idea that the American people need to be paying for these types of operations to change your sex is not very wise from a standpoint of economics. I think the president makes some good decisions about making sure that we have a force that is capable
Rep. Vicky Hartzler Republican U.S. Representative for Missouri's 4th congressional district since 2011
By recruiting and allowing transgender individuals to serve in our military we are subjecting taxpayers to high medical costs including up to $130,000 per transition surgery, lifetime hormone treatments, and additional surgeries to address the high percentage of individuals who experience complications. [...] This is also an issue of fairness. Currently we refuse entrance into our armed forces fo... See More
