One Comment for “Military Trans Ban Modified, with Dueling Discourses”
posted by Jorge on
I completely disagree with the interpretation that the EO changes almost nothing, much less that it is pomp and virtue-signaling.
The memo makes it extremely clear that change has been ordered from on high. The policy vision of the federal government has changed from “no dysphoria, come as you are, no transition (with exceptions), we pay nothing” to “recruit and maintain service”. (That the two visions are not opposite to each other has more to do with the Trump administration than the Biden administration.) Anyway, the EO makes it clear that the president’s direct reports are ordered to implement the policy recommendations of 2016.
How? That’s what they’re ordered to figure out. And they will tell the president what they have figured out in 60 days. I mean, hello? This was issued on Biden’s sixth day in office. Joe Biden’s the Commander-in-Chief, not the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Just because President Biden doesn’t make policy via Twitter doesn’t mean I want him drawing sharpies on military measurements. We don’t know the answer to every single small question or even every single large question.
In the meantime, the memo has an immediate bite: transgender troops will not be discharged for transgender-related reasons, and Trump memos are reversed. This means that when a transgender service member becomes unable to perform their duties due to necessary transition care, they cannot be discharged. At worst they will be thrown into administrative limbo. That’s not a bad thing, just not a good thing. Ordering regular reports to the president is a good way to guard against throwing people into a state of infinite indecision about their status.
One Comment for “Military Trans Ban Modified, with Dueling Discourses”
posted by Jorge on
I completely disagree with the interpretation that the EO changes almost nothing, much less that it is pomp and virtue-signaling.
The memo makes it extremely clear that change has been ordered from on high. The policy vision of the federal government has changed from “no dysphoria, come as you are, no transition (with exceptions), we pay nothing” to “recruit and maintain service”. (That the two visions are not opposite to each other has more to do with the Trump administration than the Biden administration.) Anyway, the EO makes it clear that the president’s direct reports are ordered to implement the policy recommendations of 2016.
How? That’s what they’re ordered to figure out. And they will tell the president what they have figured out in 60 days. I mean, hello? This was issued on Biden’s sixth day in office. Joe Biden’s the Commander-in-Chief, not the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Just because President Biden doesn’t make policy via Twitter doesn’t mean I want him drawing sharpies on military measurements. We don’t know the answer to every single small question or even every single large question.
In the meantime, the memo has an immediate bite: transgender troops will not be discharged for transgender-related reasons, and Trump memos are reversed. This means that when a transgender service member becomes unable to perform their duties due to necessary transition care, they cannot be discharged. At worst they will be thrown into administrative limbo. That’s not a bad thing, just not a good thing. Ordering regular reports to the president is a good way to guard against throwing people into a state of infinite indecision about their status.