PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - U.S. Sen. Jack Reed says the Defense Department shouldn’t move forward with a new policy that will largely bar transgender troops and military recruits from transitioning to another sex.
The Rhode Island Democrat said Wednesday the policy , which will also require most individuals to serve in their birth gender, is a “discriminatory and potentially unlawful plan” to ban highly-qualified and skilled individuals from serving. He’s the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and a former Army Ranger.
President Donald Trump has said transgender troops are disruptive.
Reed says they’re serving honorably and “we must not allow bigotry to impede our military’s critical mission.”
The policy will likely force the military to eventually discharge transgender individuals who need hormone treatments or surgery and can’t or won’t serve in their birth gender.
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