The ever controversial Transgender military ban may be dwindling.
Two years ago, US President Donald Trump announced, through Twitter, his plans to ban newly enlisted transgender military service people. While several federal judges pushed back that executive order, it eventually took effect two months ago. But now, it appears that the ban has done more harm than good for Trump, as the idea is losing favor with his political party.
A new poll from the Public Religions Research Institute says that two-thirds of Americans are against the ban. While that hasn’t changed much since Trump first announced the idea, there has been a growing change in how Republicans respond to the ban.
Two years ago, only 37% of Republican respondents were against the transgender service ban, and now the poll says the number has increased by 10%.
“Despite the Trump Administration’s ban on transgender personnel joining or enlisting in the military not in their assigned gender at birth, the survey finds more than six in ten (63%) Americans, including an increasing number of Republicans (47%), Americans who view Trump favorably (47%) and majorities of almost every major religious group support transgender military service.”
This is the second time that that military ban has come into the news this past week. Earlier, Trump made the claim, while visiting Britain, that the transgender ban is in place because troops aren’t allowed to take “any drugs.”
This is a shift from the earlier excuse that paying for gender-reassignment surgery was too costly for the military (a fact that was later found to be false). And it appears Trump’s latest claims were also disproven. This time, the Defense Department itself contradicted Trump by saying that troops are allowed to take all prescribed medications, including hormone treatments.
But while the PRRI poll shows that there’s a growing interest for transgender rights in America, it also found that Republicans aren’t leading the charge. But, Republicans are somewhat progressive on the issue.
As an example, PRRI asked respondents whether they believed there are only two genders. The results found that 62% believed strongly in only two genders. The other 35 percent either believe that to a lesser degree or believed that gender ranges.
While there is certainly still discourse and disagreements on gender identity and transgender issues, it appears that Americans, no matter their political affiliation, are generally becoming more respectful of their transgender neighbors’ rights.
