Logan Null

Ms. Gardner

English 10H/Period 5

17 November 2017

Controversial Issue Speech

To the United States government, citizens, and my peers:

On June 30, 2016, when Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter announced that the United States

military’s ban on transgender service had been torn away, many proudly-serving individual’s “eyes

welled with tears of happiness” and they “cried as [they] had never cried before,” including Jennifer Sims,

a United States Army captain and transgender woman (Sims). This marvelous message marked a merry

occasion throughout America, and was motivation for tremendous celebration to Sims and many other

transgender troops. Thousands could now be themselves without fear of discharge, and the comradery

among ranks was sure to be strengthened.

This merriment was short-lived. Just over a year later, just seven months into his presidency,

using 140 characters or fewer, Donald Trump announced a policy banning transgender people to serve in

the military. A policy that is unfair. A policy that negatively impacts over one million people. A policy

which wrecks the very road for equality which us, Americans, have been driving along ever since our

founding fathers declared that “all men are created equal,” and since Martin Luther King Jr. proclaimed

his dream for the future, and Barack Obama told us “Every single American - gay, straight, lesbian,

bisexual, transgender - [...] deserves to be treated equally in the eyes of the law and in the eyes of our

society.”

One of the lame excuses used by our inadequate leader, Donald Trump, behind unjustly banning

transgenders from military service is that the costs of helping with medical care for transitioning service

members would be too costly. However, in a study conducted by the Rand Corporation, it was estimated
that the costs of medical care for transitioning service members would be less than a 0.2% increase in

force-wide costs (Marchant). Trump’s reasoning of “tremendous medical costs” is absolutely illogical.

Furthermore, the military spends ten times as much on unnecessary drugs, such as Viagra, as they would

on the costs of medical care for transgenders.

Further reasoning behind Trump’s ban is that the presence of transgenders could disrupt the

bonds of trust between soldiers in the military, decreasing the army’s effectiveness. This, too, makes no

sense. Jennifer Sims, a transgender woman serving in the army, whom I briefly mentioned before, stated

in her article “I Am a Transgender U.S. Army Officer” that “there have not been any disruptions to the

unit's operations” since she came out as transgender after the ban was lifted in 2016. She went on to write,

“..from what I have experienced, open transgender service strengthens our military” (Sims).

You should find it quite clear, now, that President Trump’s reasoning for banning transgender

service in the army is ludicrous. There is absolutely no reason that someone who is transgender shouldn’t

be allowed to serve their country. According to a Williams Institute study, cited by Landon Marchant in

his article “Why so Many Transgender Americans Find Refuge in Military Service,” there are an

estimated 134,000 transgender army veterans, and as many as 15,500 transgenders on active duty in the

military. These thousands of people serve ​our​ country, protect ​our​ homes, and keep ​us​ safe. And how

does ​our​ bigoted president thank them? He tries to throw them out the garbage chute with his disgraceful

remarks. The United States military, having as many as over 15,000 transgenders serving on active duty,

could be made the largest employer of transgender Americans. Marchant, a transgender veteran, says in

his article that transgenders are twice as likely to serve in the military than cisgenders (or people whose

gender identity matches the sex they were assigned at birth). This is because the military offers a sense of

purpose for transgenders, where, overall, they would face higher rates of homelessness, unemployment,

and health care discrimination.

 Transgenders who are patriotic and want to serve their country have the same right to do so as

anyone else. Refusing to let transgenders serve their country is refusing to let their country serve them. So

speak up, and don’t sit idly by while your peers are rejected their rights to serve their homeland. Don’t

allow the shallow, few words of a diminutive tweet define the future of your country. Take inspiration

from those who have already refused to be trumped by inequality, such as federal judge Colleen

Kollar-Kotelly, who blocked the transgender ban, ruling it was based on "disapproval of transgender

people generally" (qtd in Philipps). I thank you, judges, officials, and citizens alike, who stand up for the

good of the country and the equality of their people. For we cannot begin to search for unity with other

nations, if we cannot plainly see the discord within our own.

Word Count: 775

 Works Cited

Marchant, Landon. "Why so Many Transgender Americans Find Refuge in Military Service."

Washington Post - Blogs​, 27 Jul, 2017​, SIRS Issues Researcher​, https://sks.sirs.com.

Philipps, Dave. "Judge Blocks Transgender Military Ban."​ New York Times​, 31 Oct, 2017, pp. A.1​,

SIRS Issues Researcher​, https://sks.sirs.com.

Sims, Jennifer. "I Am a Transgender U.S. Army Officer."​ New York Times​, 28 Jul, 2017, pp. A.27​, SIRS

Issues Researcher​, https://sks.sirs.com.