OPINION | Trump Abandons Transgender Patriots (The Hill)
The Hill, July 27, 2017
OPINION | Trump Abandons Transgender Patriots
By Michael Richter and Anna Pohl.
Michael Richter and Anna Pohl are the chairs of the New York City Bar Association’s Military Affairs and LGBT Rights Committees, respectively, and are attorneys based in New York City.
President Trump surely has the power to stop accepting or allowing transgender individuals to serve in the military, reversing an Obama-era Pentagon policy — but he shouldn’t and a Constitutional challenge based on the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process clause might stop him.
But before we address a possible Constitutional challenge, we should consider the test put forth by Defense Secretary James Mattis: Does permitting the open service of transgender individuals affect the “readiness and lethality of our forces?”
We agree with the test, and after a year-long study that culminated with a debate hosted by the Military Affairs and LGBT Rights Committees of the New York City Bar Association, which we lead, we issued a report last week concluding that permitting open transgender service will have no effect on military readiness.
