Massachusetts’ Maura Healey was among 19 attorneys general to sign a letter urging Congress to oppose President Trump’s new policy of preventing transgender individuals from serving in the US military, calling it “blatant discrimination.”
The letter, signed Thursday, urges Congress to protect transgender service members through a bill known as the National Defense Authorization Act. It asks for language that prohibits discrimination against transgender service members currently serving in the military and reinforces that transgender individuals can’t be banned from the military.
The letter calls for the immediate reversal of Trump’s new policy.
In a series of tweets earlier this week, Trump said that ‘‘[T]he United States Government will not accept or allow Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military.”
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After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow......
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2017
....Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming.....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2017
....victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Thank you
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2017
Trump’s policy, according to the letter signed by the attorneys general, “reopens a closed issue,” flies in the face of military advice, and is grounded in inaccuracies. It also represents “blatant discrimination,” the letter asserts.
Trump’s policy, according to the letter, “undermines the national security goal of giving every able American who wants to serve in the military the opportunity to serve.”
The letter goes on to state that Trump’s policy also creates “untold bureaucratic and legal cost and complexities in implementation, and would put in place a policy that violates fundamental constitutional and American values.”
According to the letter, which was addressed to four individual lawmakers, including Senator John McCain, as well as the Senate and House committees on armed services, almost 150,000 transgender individuals have served in the US military.
Danny McDonald can be reached at daniel.mcdonald@globe.com