Summary
Donald Trump plans to ban transgender individuals from military service shortly after his inauguration, reversing President Biden’s 2021 policy and expelling about 15,000 serving trans troops.
Critics, including advocacy groups and military experts, warn this move will exacerbate recruitment and retention challenges, harm unit cohesion, and create skill gaps amid existing shortfalls.
The order aligns with Trump’s broader anti-trans agenda, which includes banning gender-affirming care and restricting trans rights nationwide.
Legal challenges are anticipated as the military faces administrative and operational disruptions.
Let’s not overshadow the fact that people DO hate us just because they need someone to hate, or because their religion says to, or because their politics says to. Trying to pretty it up or make it “less bad” because they’re all secretly gay doesn’t help.
I detest the “all homophobes are secretly gay” thing so much.
What it’s saying, in effect, is that queer people are responsible for our own oppression. Because if every homophobe is secretly queer, then no straight person can ever be homophobic. If they were, they wouldn’t be straight, by definition.
The only way that argument works is if we’re actually arguing that there is no such as being straight, and that everyone is at least 1% bisexual. There’s some basis for that, especially in studies of ancient cultures and uncontacted tribes. But until we start taking that seriously as an idea (and that is a very, very contentious idea to be taking seriously), this “Only queer people can be homophobic” nonsense has got to stop.
One percent seems too low considering John Barrowman exists.
I don’t think anybody thinks that only queer folk can be homophobic, but it does happen quite often. Usually it’s the fault of heteronormative indoctrination, religious or otherwise (which is also usually the problem when straight folk are homophobic)
That doesn’t make it less bad, it makes it more bad.