On January 25th, 2019, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to restrict transgender people from the military. The Supreme Court justices voted 5-4 on the act that was proposed in 2017, but is now about to be put into affect.

Trump’s reasoning behind this decision is because of Transgender Healthcare costs. In 2014, the U.S. Department of Defense spent a total of $49.3 billion dollars on health care expenditures, while only $2.4-$8.4 million of it was spent on Transgender services.

When Trump initially proposed  the idea to ban Transgenders from serving back in 2017, the Defense Department stated that “Letting Transgender people serve openly would have minimal impact on readiness and health care costs”.

In 2017, out of the 1.3 million people serving in the military force, only 1,300-6,600 were transgender. Before, Transgenders would be able to receive medical services to change their gender, but it is unclear what will happen now.

In order to fully understand the gratitude of this, The Roosevelt Review asked junior Madison Brown, and Sophomore Alyssa Watson if they were aware of the ban, and taking all given facts into consideration, if they believed the decision was justified.

In a in-depth response Madison Brown responded,” Yes I have heard about the ruling. I don’t think it’s fair at all. We only live so long so what’s wrong with wanting to be comfortable in the body you’re in. If they’re brave enough to want to serve our country they should be able. Being trans doesn’t affect your ability to serve. I don’t think this is a legitimate reason for banning transgenders. It’s simply an excuse. Alone the government spends about 54 percent of all federal discretionary spending on the military. I don’t think trans healthcare is number one on Trump’s list of financial cuts. I don’t think Trump should’ve made this decision. You have to be a very brave, secure to be yourself. Why wouldn’t Trump want brave, secure people fighting in our military?”

Sophomore Alyssa Watson said, ” I have heard about Trump’s decision about banning transgenders from the military, and I don’t think this is a fair choice that the president has made. One reason would be if they want to SERVE and PROTECT the country I don’t think it should be a problem. A Transgender has all the same emotions as other Americans do, they still feel, love, cry, so I don’t see the difference. If a transgender wanted to serve to fight you shouldn’t take away their Patriotism, you should be thanking them for doing something you chose not to do. I think his reasoning behind banning transgenders isn’t a legitimate reason just take that whole gender out because of their health care cost. What more does a transgender need than anyone else who is serving in the military as a Women or Man? A transgender is the same person. If the Department of Defense has a total of 49.3 billion dollars to spend on other men and women, and the transgender community only gets 2.4 – 8.4 million dollars, the money part of the situation shouldn’t be a valid reason to BAN people for choosing something they want to do as a honorable, and recognizable moment in their life.” 

The White House Press Secretary in 2017 did not have an answer for how the plan would be implemented, and there is no definite plan in place for the 14,700 Transgenders serving today. As the year progresses, we’ll see how this ban is further enacted.