{"id":2977,"date":"2025-04-22T14:51:27","modified":"2025-04-22T14:51:29","slug":"fetterman-duckworth-colleagues-condemn-trump-administration-ban-on-trans-military-service","link":"https:\/\/www.fetterman.senate.gov\/fetterman-duckworth-colleagues-condemn-trump-administration-ban-on-trans-military-service\/","title":{"rendered":"Fetterman, Duckworth, Colleagues Condemn Trump Administration Ban on Trans Military Service"},"content":{"rendered":"\n


Washington, D.C. <\/strong>\u2013 Today, U.S. Senators John Fetterman (D-PA) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), along with 12 of their fellow Senate Democratic colleagues, sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth condemning President Trump\u2019s transgender military service ban, which is a blatant violation of servicemembers\u2019 civil rights and threat to our national security. The lawmakers asked Secretary Hegseth if the Administration was complying with nationwide injunctions that halted the ban and demanded that the Administration disclose whether any transgender servicemembers have been wrongfully dismissed under the executive order despite the courts\u2019 orders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis policy insults the service of brave Americans who believe that all people, regardless of differences, are equal and have a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,\u201d wrote the lawmakers in a letter to Secretary Hegseth. <\/strong>\u201cAs the Joint Force faces a recruiting crisis amid a staggering attrition rate for new troops (nearly a quarter of Army recruits have failed to complete their initial contracts since 2022), our Nation cannot afford to expel several thousand troops serving honorably on a baseless, hateful whim.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lawmakers derided Trump\u2019s trans military service ban for not only being discriminatory and based on false pretenses, but also for hurting the United States\u2019 military readiness and exacerbating the ongoing military recruiting crisis in service of continuing hateful attacks against transgender Americans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe United States military became the greatest fighting force in the world by pioneering the integration of diverse groups,\u201d the lawmakers continued.<\/strong> \u201cWe have triumphed over our enemies because military effectiveness and lethality are strengthened by a broad range of skills, experiences and backgrounds. Naysayers who have derided the U.S. military as lacking the discipline, intelligence and ability to achieve unit cohesion among Americans of different classes, races, ethnicities, religions and yes, genders, have been proven wrong again and again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to Senators Fetterman and Duckworth, the letter is co-signed by U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Ron Wyden (D-WA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The full text of the letter is available <\/strong>here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senator Fetterman has been an outspoken critic of the Trump Administration\u2019s ban on transgender individuals serving in the military. When the ban was announced in February, he posted a video on X,<\/a> calling on the Administration to immediately reverse course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am unapologetically pro-military\u2014I believe in a strong, lethal military. But I am also unapologetically pro the LGBTQ community,\u201d said Senator Fetterman on X.<\/strong> \u201cI am calling on President Trump to rescind this executive order\u2014to allow and honor the inherent dignity of our servicemembers regardless of what their race is, what their gender is, who they love, or how they identify. A military that respects and supports all of its members is fully capable of being lethal and winning wars.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false}}