Senators Collins and Gillibrand Join Together to Try to Block Trump’s Transgender Ban

Senators Behind Bipartisan Push That Repealed DADT Now Working to Block Trump Military Transgender Ban

Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) are teaming up once again to support the military. They have introduced an amendment that would block President Donald Trump from implementing his ban on transgender military service members. The legislation, if passed, would be attached to a all-but-must-pass bill, the annual National Defense Authorization Act, that funds the military.

The amendment would ban the military from discharging transgender troops solely for the reason they are transgender.

“Any individual who wants to join our military and meets the standards should be allowed to serve, period. Gender identity should have nothing to do with it,” Senator Gillibrand, the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel, said in a joint statement Monday. “I am proud to work with Senator Collins to introduce our bipartisan amendment to protect transgender members of our Armed Forces, and I will always fight for our brave transgender troops who put their lives on the line to protect our country.”

“Our armed forces should welcome the service of any qualified individual who is willing and capable of serving our country,” Senator Collins said in the same statement. “If individuals are willing to put on the uniform of our country, be deployed in war zones, and risk their lives for our freedoms, then we should be expressing our gratitude to them, not trying to exclude them from military service.”

There is a long road ahead.

CNN reports it is “unclear whether the measure will get a vote, as it’s one of scores of proposed amendments to the defense bill.”

And despite some Republicans stating they oppose Trump’s ban, it’s unknown if they will oppose the still unpopular president.

Late last month Trump signed a memo giving Defense Secretary Jim Mattis authority to discharge transgender troops, directing him to use “deployability” as the deciding factor. But the language of the memo is questionable at best. There are several lawsuits filed and planned, which may also block Trump’s goal of banning all transgender service members.

Family Research Council president Tony Perkins, according to a New York Times article, was behind Trump announcing the ban. He reportedly asked the White House, or the president himself, to implement the ban.

Collins and Gillibrand, their press release states, led the “successful bipartisan effort to repeal military’s discriminatory ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy in 2010.”

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