Canada won’t follow Trump in ban on transgender troops
The Canadian Forces says it is pressing ahead with changes to its transgender policy, even as U.S. President Donald Trump looks to bar transgender people from military service south of the border.
Trump announced Wednesday on Twitter that he was reinstating a ban on transgender people serving in uniform, after the previous Obama administration lifted the ban last year.
“Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory,” he wrote, “and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail.”
Trump wrote that he had consulted with “my generals and military experts,” but he did not mention Defence Secretary Jim Mattis, the retired Marine general who less than one month ago told the military service chiefs to spend another six months weighing the costs and benefits of allowing transgender individuals to enlist. At the time, Mattis said this “does not presuppose the outcome of the review,” but Trump’s tweets appeared to have done just that.
Criticism for Trump’s action was immediate and strong from Republicans and Democrats.
His action is “harmful, misguided and weakens, not strengthens our military,” said Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York.
John McCain, the Arizona Republican and Vietnam War hero, said Trump was simply wrong. “Any American who meets current medical and readiness standards should be allowed to continue serving,” he said.
But Rep. Duncan Hunter, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said: “The president’s decision was the absolute right decision . ... It’s about time that a decision is made to restore the warrior culture and allow the U.S. military to get back to business.”
Trump’s move cast a light on the Canadian Forces, which lifted its own ban on transgender people and LGBT members following a court case in 1992 — a fact the Forces highlighted on its own Twitter account Wednesday.
“We welcome [Canadians] of all sexual orientations and gender identities,” the military wrote under a picture of three sailors playing instruments at a recent Pride parade. “Join us!”
National Defence spokesman Daniel Le Bouthillier said work continues on an update to the Canadian military’s transgender policy, which first came into effect in 2012.
There are no official figures for how many transgender people are in the Forces, but estimates put the number at about 200.
Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke MP Randall Garrison, who serves as both the federal NDP’s defence critic and its LGBTQ critic, called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to denounce Trump’s “despicable” comments.
“Service to one’s country is of the highest honour. Transgender people who are currently in the military and those who wish to serve are, in many ways, the bravest of the brave,” Garrison said in a statement.
Canada is one of 18 countries that allows transgender military personnel; the list includes Israel, Australia, Britain, Germany and France.