Trump Ban on Transgender Military Service Prompts Confusion and Disagreement From Ohio Senators

President Trump announced in a series of tweets Wednesday morning that transgender people will not be allowed to serve in the military. 

The news came as a surprise to Ohio Republican Senator Rob Portman.

“I’m confused by it,” says Portman, “because my understanding was that Secretary of Defense Mattis had just put in place a six-month policy review on this.  And by the end of the year we were gonna get the input from the military, and I think we should let the military decide this.”

In June, Defense Secretary James Mattis deferred enlistment of transgender people until January 1st, while the military studied the impact of transgender service members. 

Ohio Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown says he disagrees with the president’s decision.

“I have deep respect, of course, and gratitude for anyone who volunteers to serve in our military,” says Brown, “and we should not turn anyone away who is willing and able to serve our county. Period. The President’s wrong.”

The Obama administration last June lifted the ban on transgender military service, allowing a year to implement recruitment. 

In his tweets, President Trump cited “tremendous medical costs” among the reasons to ban transgender military personnel. 

A June 2016 study by the Rand Corporation think tank found that letting transgender people serve openly would have “minimal impact on readiness and health care costs.”  Rand estimated between 1300 – 6600 transgender people currently serve in the military out of a total of about 1.3 million.