Military ban is unfair but correct

“Life is unfair,” President John F. Kennedy said at a 1962 news conference. I thought of his words when President Trump tweeted that “our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail.”

Unlike being lesbian, gay or bisexual, transgender individuals face an array of social and logistical hurdles. Their plight, though very real, is fluid, and their issues are emotional and difficult to solve. With North Korea and terrorism posing serious threats, the U. S. military needs to be focused on defeating these enemies and not locker rooms, restrooms and reassignment surgeries.

The military is about success and preparedness; it is about national security and uniformity. The idea that it can be part of an egalitarian utopia is a dangerous proposition that does little to keep America safe.

Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin said Trump was trying to “drag LGBTQ people back into the closet.” Was President Obama trying to do that when he campaigned against marriage equality in 2008? Was President Clinton putting a padlock on the closet when he instituted “don’t ask, don’t tell” for the U. S. military?

Trump was the first U. S. president to enter the White House supporting marriage equality. When Hillary Clinton was backing her husband’s decision to sign the Defense of Marriage Act that limited gay rights, Trump was opening his Mar- a- Lago club to gay couples.

Supporting LGBT rights does not mean that you have to be an LGBT Santa Claus who continually stuffs the stockings and leaves presents under the tree. Trump has to make decisions for the nation, not one group, and sometimes that means you don’t get what you want. When it comes to LGBT politics, it is sexuality first, country second. It is just the opposite when you are POTUS.

Trump’s decision may be unfair, but it was not incorrect.

Joseph R. Murray II, a lawyer and former campaign aide to Pat Buchanan, is author of Odd Man Out, about being a married gay man in the Christian right.