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Transgender troops and advocates prepare to fight Trump’s new policy
STORY: U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday that took aim at transgender troops. The order said that expressing a “gender identity” different from an individual’s sex at birth did not meet military standards, and that a man identifying as a woman was “not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member.” A day later, transgender rights advocacy groups filed a lawsuit against the order, saying it violated the equal protection component of the Fifth Amendment. Navy Commander Emily Shilling is a test pilot and combat veteran who leads SPARTA, an advocacy group for transgender troops. She says transgender service members began preparing for possible restrictions well in advance of Trump’s election win. “In preparation for a potential ban, SPARTA has started over a year ago, training ambassadors.” “We brought them in and trained them how to talk to media, how to talk to generals and admirals, how to talk to congresspeople. That way, the stories that really matter about trans service members bringing strength to our service, bringing their individual courage to the fight, can be told, rather than how they might be a detriment.” Trump’s order banned the use of what it called “invented” pronouns in the military. However, it did not answer basic questions including whether transgender soldiers currently serving would be allowed to stay and, if not, how they would be removed. “Removing transgender troops from active service today will have a detrimental effect on our combat readiness. These individuals are deployed worldwide. They’re right now already embedded in units. We have transgender troops in South Korea. We have them in Japan. We have them on aircraft carriers across the world. And when you remove those individuals for their identity, you remove their talents and their specialized skills. Who’s going to replace them?” Department of Defense data shows the military has about 1.3 million active-duty personnel. While transgender rights advocates say there are as many as 15,000 transgender service members, officials say the number is in the low thousands.Shilling said SPARTA membership had grown 10% since the election to 2,200 members, many of them senior enlisted members.
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