US carrier personnel ‘will not be judged on being transgender’
AMERICAN SAILORS working on one of the largest and most powerful aircraft carriers in the world will only be judged on their ability to complete the mission and not whether they are transgender, a US admiral has said.
Rear Admiral Kenneth Whitesell, commander of the carrier 2 strike group, was speaking aboard the nuclear-powered super warship USS George HW
Bush, which anchored in Stokes Bay, near Portsmouth, yesterday.
His comments came in the wake of a series of tweets sent by American President Donald Trump, in which he proposed a ban on transgender individuals serving in the US military.
When asked by journalists if he was in favour of the President’s proposal, Rear Admiral Whitesell said it will be “interesting” to see how the issue and policy “plays out”, and stressed he does not have an opinion on it “one way or the other”.
He added: “I’ve got 5,500 sailors that are on board this ship, when you combine the air wing... 7,000 total that operate. I’m looking for sailors that can accomplish the mission, and that is all we judge people by.”
In a series of posts on Twitter, Mr Trump said he had taken the decision because US forces “cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail”.
Following the proposals made on social media by Mr Trump, UK defence chiefs have since backed transgender people serving in the US armed forces.
His comments have been opposed by Rear Admiral Alex Burton, Commander UK Maritime Forces, who tweeted: “As a Royal Navy LGBT champion and senior warfighter I am so glad we are not going this way.”
Second Sea Lord Vice Admiral Jonathan Woodcock said on Twitter he was “proud” of the Royal Navy’s transgender personnel. A Ministry of Defence spokesman said it did not comment on “US military recruitment policy”.