- Title: Activist condemns Trump's ban on transgender in U.S. military, 'policy by tweet'
- Date: 26th July 2017
- Summary: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (JULY 26, 2017) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) MARA KEISLING, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR TRANSGENDER EQUALITY, SAYING: "I think last year, almost nobody anticipated that we would have such a reckless and irresponsible policy-making apparatus in the White House as we have right now. So yeah, service members were coming out. You know, there are thousands who are out - the 15,000 is how many total there are - but a lot of those were holding back to see how the roll-out went. But the implementation has been going great. Service members have been coming out, fitting in with their units, there haven't been problems, so this is just capricious and really dangerous for unit cohesion, really dangerous for military readiness - and he just tweeted it."
- Embargoed: 9th August 2017 18:14
- Keywords: Donald Trump transgender military tweet
- Location: WASHINGTON, D.C. / ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA, UNITED STATES / UNIDENTIFIED / INTERNET / BABADAG, ROMANIA / SAIDA KALACHA, ARGHANDAB DISTRICT, KANDAHAR PROVINCE, AFGHANISTAN / SANGIN, AFGHANISTAN
- City: WASHINGTON, D.C. / ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA, UNITED STATES / UNIDENTIFIED / INTERNET / BABADAG, ROMANIA / SAIDA KALACHA, ARGHANDAB DISTRICT, KANDAHAR PROVINCE, AFGHANISTAN / SANGIN, AFGHANISTAN
- Country: Various
- Topics: Defence,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA0056RCV6TJ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: TRUMP'S TWEETS IN EDIT 3181
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday (July 26) he would ban transgender people from the U.S. military, an action appealing to some in his conservative political base but sowing confusion about the fate of thousands of transgender service members.
Trump's announcement, in a series of Twitter posts, drew swift condemnation from rights groups and some lawmakers in both parties as "raw prejudice" with purely political motives.
"It's just outlandish. It is policy making by whim and tweet, and it is not okay," said Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality in Washington.
But it was praised by conservative activists and some Republicans.
The Republican president's tweets offered no details on how the ban - reversing Democratic former President Barack Obama's policy - would be implemented.
Chelsea Manning, the transgender Army soldier who served seven years in prison for leaking classified data, said on Twitter that Trump's action "sounds like cowardice." - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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