Protest against Don’t Ask Don’t Tell

Trump and Hegseth have a two-pronged agenda for the US military: the first is its use as a domestic police and repression force, which I wrote about in January. The second is to Make the Military Warfighters Again–based on the ultra-online belief that the ranks have become a liberal bastion catering to unqualified slobs and woke indoctrination. The belief they must be transformed into a singular VetBro archetype, a military that will look really badass on Instagram–most importantly, no posts by soldiers that Libs of TikTok could share. (They think there’s too many women, too).

On May 6, they were handed another victory for this second pillar as the Supreme Court issued a decision allowing them to conduct a massive purge of Transgender service members and ban them from enlisting. The military says 4,240 of its troops officially “suffer from gender dysphoria” but estimates of the true number reach 15,000.

The incoming purge would end what was less than a decade of Trans people being allowed to serve, after Obama lifted the ban in 2016. Prior to that they were formally banned, though still found ways to join under the radar. Many were kicked out for being discovered.

The vast majority of Trans enlistees identify as Transgender before joining. According to a study in the National Library of Medicine: “transgender persons appear twice as likely as members of the general population to serve in the military; 20 percent of respondents from the National Transgender Discrimination Survey had served in the military, compared to 10 percent of the general population.”

Much of this could be attributed to Trans people in uniform having been able to, since 2016, receive gender-affirming health care through the military, as well as escape issues like homelessness and unemployment that disproportionately impact Trans youth. 34 percent of Trans service members report they had experienced homelessness. (The average age of enlistment is 19).

The pivot by the Obama Administration repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell in 2011, and then in the Trans ban in 2016, was not indicative of a liberal (or “woke”) Pentagon as asserted by the right wing. Rather, it was a necessary adaptation for the war machine to retain legitimacy in a changing society. By that time, a clear majority of Americans supported equal rights across the board of LGBTQ people. So, for state institutions to remain credible in the eyes of their population (and potential enlistees), they would have to adapt.

Troops kicked out under DADT lobbying at the White House

But it was also pushed to do so, as the broader equality struggle often centered on the military. With the incoming attack of LGBTQ rights, it could again become a trigger for a fightback.

A History of Bigotry

Abuse and repression against LGBTQ troops has, in many ways, increased over the decades leading up to the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, rather than a gradual softening.

© CounterPunch