- Title: Transgender Army veteran shocked at Trump's ban on transgender from U.S. military
- Date: 26th July 2017
- Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (JULY 26, 2017) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) TRANSGENDER VETERAN WHO SERVED IN THE U.S. ARMY, JENNIFER LONG, SAYING: "Think about the talent pool in today's military, it's volunteer service, about less than 1 percent of the U.S. population that really ever serves. And you know, today's military being of such high skill, you're looking for your best talent. And you've now made that pool much smaller by saying, 'Hey now your service isn't welcome'." LONG CROSSING THE STREET
- Embargoed: 9th August 2017 23:25
- Keywords: Donald Trump transgender military tweet Jennifer Long
- Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES / INTERNET
- City: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES / INTERNET
- Country: USA
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA0076RCW0UF
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:A U.S. Army veteran said she was shocked after reading on Twitter Wednesday (July 26) about U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to ban transgender people from the U.S. military.
Jennifer Long, a transgender woman who served in the military for 29 years, said that the talent pool is made that much smaller with transgender individuals not being able to serve in the military. Long said she was "given the option" to "retire quietly" because the senior staff had a hard time with her transition from male to female.
As many as 10,700 transgender people are estimated to be serving in the U.S. military out of 1.4 million overall, according to a 2016 study by the RAND Corp., a California-based defense think tank. Another 134,000 people are transgender veterans, experts estimate.
The U.S. Department of Defense announced last year it was ending a ban on transgender troops serving openly, and it was expected this year to start allowing transgender recruits to join the armed forces. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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