UPDATE; 10: 01 AM: The reaction has been swift and condemning from Hollywood today to President Donald Trump’s newly announced ban on transgender individuals serving in the U.S. military but now America’s most well known transgender individual has joined the fray. Registered Republican Caitlyn Jenner is calling the ex-Celebrity Apprentice host out on his promises to be a friend to the LGBT community in last year’s campaign for the White House. Jenner was joined in her stance against Trump’s latest twitter announced policy by Sen. Jon McCain, a day after the 2008 Presidential candidate was praised by the President for his role in the possible beginning of repel of Affordable Care Act.
Read what the 1976 Olympic champion and reality TV star had to say on Wednesday after Trump’s pronouncement:
There are 15,000 patriotic transgender Americans in the US military fighting for all of us. What happened to your promise to fight for them? https://t.co/WzjypVC8Sr
— Caitlyn Jenner (@Caitlyn_Jenner) July 26, 2017
Jazz Jennings, who stars in TLC’s reality series I Am Jazz, said in a statement today: “Trans people embody courage & bravery. They stand in their truth & fight every day. Soldiers deserve respect for their service, not this.”
Just over a year ago, candidate Trump sworn on social media and in various speeches that he would “fight” for the LGBT community and their “freedoms and beliefs.”
Chelsea Handler will address the ban in this week’s episode of Chelsea on Netflix. Here is a clip:
Thank you to the LGBT community! I will fight for you while Hillary brings in more people that will threaten your freedoms and beliefs.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 14, 2016
Seemingly throwing Pentagon officials for a spin with this morning’s tweets, Trump also got a social media earful today from Sen. John McCain. A day after proving the decisive vote for the GOP’s efforts to overturn Obamacare, the now cancer suffering military hero and former Presidential candidate took to Twitter himself to tell Trump his remarks were wrong:
Any American who meets current medical & readiness standards should be allowed to continue serving – my full stmt: https://t.co/6rHm5OWQzc
— John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) July 26, 2017
It is estimated that several thousand transgender individuals currently serve in the military and active reserve of the 1.3 million total in uniform.
PREVIOUSLY, 7:49 AM: Hollywood, civil liberties groups and others are reacting quickly to President Trump’s policy declaration Wednesday morning that transgender people are banned from serving in the U.S. military.
George Takei, Dustin Lance Black, Zoe Kazan, Andy Cohen, James Corden and the ACLU are among the first. You can read their reactions below and we’ll be updating with more as they come in.
Joshua Block, senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union’s LGBT & HIV Project, had the following reaction:
“This is an outrageous and desperate action. The thousands of transgender service members serving on the front lines for this country deserve better than a commander-in-chief who rejects their basic humanity.
“Let us be clear. This has been studied extensively, and the consensus is clear: There are no cost or military readiness drawbacks associated with allowing trans people to fight for their country. The president is trying to score cheap political points on the backs of military personnel who have put their lives on the line for their country.
“There is no basis for turning trans people away from our military and the ACLU is examining all of our options on how to fight this. For any trans service member affected by today’s announcement: Please get in touch with us, because we want to hear from you.”
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