‘I Totally Support the President in His Decision’ Perry Says
Energy Secretary Rick Perry says he fully supports President Donald Trump’s decree last week banning all transgender troops from continuing their active duty military service. Speaking at a Texas HVAC manufacturing plant on Friday, the former Lone Star State governor told reporters, “I totally support the president in his decision,†the Texas Tribune reports.
“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,†said Perry, a former Air Force vet and avowed anti-LGBT far right wing Christian.
Not surprisingly, Perry is wrong.
At the top end of estimates, according to a study from the RAND corporation, the military would spend $8.4 million annually for transition related medical care for its transgender service members. Compare that to the $300 million the military is spending this year to recruit 6000 new troops.Â
There are an estimated 15,000 transgender troops serving in the U.S. military.Â
Activists also point to U.S. taxpayers spending about $10 million annually on Trump’s trips to his golf ranges, and the U.S. military spending over over $80 million on erectile dysfunction medication.
“You know what, I don’t check on the price of Viagra,†Perry said when confronted, as ThinkProgress reports Monday.
“Sebastian Gorka,” ThinkProgress adds, “the controversial deputy assistant to the president on national security matters, has also claimed that firing thousands of transgender servicemembers is for their own good.”
In 2011 while running for president Perry told a bisexual teen who had asked him to defend his views that gays should not serve openly in the military, that homosexuality is a sin and as Commander in Chief he does not believe any of America’s soldiers should be gay.Â
A Reuters poll released Monday found the vast majority of Americans support transgender service members serving openly.
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