Trump defends transgender military ban to Piers Morgan: ‘They take massive amounts of drugs’
In an interview on British television, President Trump defended his decision to ban transgender people from serving in the military “because they take massive amounts of drugs.”
Trump, on a state visit to the U.K. spoke with “Good Morning Britain” host Piers Morgan.
Among other topics, Morgan asked the president, “Why did you feel the need to ban transgender people from serving in the U.S. military?”
"Because they take massive amounts of drugs, they have to,” responded Trump. “You’re in the military. You’re not allowed to take any drugs." He added that military members, however, can take an aspirin.
But for transgender military servicepeople, Trump said, they have to take drugs because “they have no choice.” After gender reassignment surgery, patients need to take medication for transgender hormone therapy and receive ongoing treatment for other health-related reasons that could arise after surgery.
"You would have to break rules and regulations in order to have that," Trump argued.
When Morgan pointed out that “the U.S. military spends a lot more money, for example, on giving Viagra to servicemen and women, well servicemen, than it does on medical bills for transgender people,” Trump said, "I didn’t know they did that."
In 2017, the Defense Department spent $84.2 million on erectile dysfunction medications such as Viagra compared to an “estimated $8 million per year that the Defense Department will spend on health care for about 7,000 transgender troops,” according to the Military Times.
As of last year, 19 countries, including the U.K., most of the rest of Western Europe, Israel, Canada and Australia, allow transgender individuals to serve in their armed forces. Most American evangelical Christian leaders, including Trump’s outspoken supporter Jerry Falwell Jr., condemn gender reassignment as being against God’s plan.
Trump’s military ban went into effect in April after it was announced in 2017 by the president in a tweet, claiming the U.S. military "cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail." The policy, which bars "transgender persons with a history or diagnosis of gender dysphoria” from enlisting and "blocks all use of DoD or DHS resources to fund sex reassignment surgical procedure,” could impact about 10,000 transgender people who may be serving in the military, according to a 2016 study by the think tank RAND Corporation.
The trans military ban, Morgan noted, conflicts with Trump’s pre-LGBT Pride month tweet where he called for “our Great Nation” to “stand in solidarity with the many LGBT people who live in dozens of countries worldwide that punish, imprison, or even execute individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation.”
“It is what it is,” Trump responded, saying that there are “massive amounts of people going in and then asking for the operation, and the operation is $200,000, $250,000, and getting the operation. The recovery period is long and they have to take large amounts of drugs after that — for whatever reason — large amounts, and that’s not the way it is. You can’t do that.”
Still, he said of trans military members who are currently serving, some of whom are decorated, “I’m proud of them, but you have to have a standard, and you have to stick by that standard, and we have a great military and I want to keep it that way.”
Before justifying his military ban, Trump also defended his reason for not serving in the Vietnam War, saying, “I was not a fan of that war.” Trump has faced criticism from opponents like veteran and Democratic candidate Pete Buttigieg for receiving five draft deferments, medical and academic, to avoid serving in the Vietnam War.
“Nobody heard of Vietnam,” said Trump. “And they are saying, ‘what are we doing? So many people dying. What is happening over there?’ So I was never a fan — this isn’t like I’m fighting against Nazi Germany — we're fighting against Hitler."
When asked if he would have served in a different war, Trump said: “I would not have minded that at all, I would have been honored. But I think I make up for it right now. Look, $700 billion I gave last year and then this year $716 billion and I think I’m making up for it rapidly because we’re rebuilding our military at a level that it’s never seen before.”
_____
Read more from Yahoo News:
