In a summer filled with endless political twists and turns, yet another development has taken a stab into the already deep divide in the United States. On July 26 President Trump tweeted out that transgender people would no longer be able to serve in the military in any way. There was already a six month delay of the recruitment of transgender people, as put in place by Defense Secretary James Mattis. This is said to have outraged other politicians in Washington because President Trump did not alert the defense committee of his announcement, Senator John McCain saying this proves, yet again, that policy decisions are not to be announced via Twitter.  Former Vice President Joe Biden also joined in on the debate stating he believes there should be no reason a willing and able person should not be allowed to fight for their country. Trump sites the medical costs and disruption of the presence of transgender people as his reasoning behind the decision. This action has electrified the LGBTQ community and is trending across social media platforms.

  Sexual orientation and gender identity have a long history of creating buzz amongst the troops and lawmakers, with policies such as “don’t ask, don’t tell” making waves for years. There are currently 18 countries in which transgender people are able to serve. This statistic is especially surprising when also noting that there are over 15,000 transgender American soldiers at this time. There are also higher rates of homelessness, home foreclosure, and loss of work based on their identity reported among transgender veterans. Under the ban the current soldiers would be generally discharged, meaning they were mentally unfit for duty, which could affect their future job prospects. This move is being seen as a huge setback in the LGBT rights, as former President Obama had reversed the ban on transgender soldiers just last year. Another source of hurt is that Trump and his family have claimed to be supporters of LGBT rights, a group of his LGBT supporters even branding themselves “gays for Trump.” Senior Taryn Gillaspy commented, “I know personally I’m not happy about it, but I believe there is no need for transgender people to serve a country that won’t protect them.”

  Whether they are angry about the announcement coming from Twitter or about the announcement itself, people are upset about the President’s politics. Even moreso, people are wondering what happens next and what the future has in store for LGBT rights.