Friends,
You may know that I serve as Co-Chair of the Transgender Equality Task Force in the House, and I’m so proud to work with my colleagues to advance and protect trans rights. I also sit on the House Armed Services Committee, and represent San Diego, the largest military community in the country. As you may already know, there’s a big intersection of trans rights and the strength of our military.
In case you haven’t been following, here’s the background: On January 27, President Trump issued an executive order barring trans individuals from enlisting and serving openly in the military. On February 10, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth doubled down and issued a memo barring gender affirming care for service members.
In response, I led 41 of my House colleagues in an effort to reverse these dangerous and costly decisions.
Join my efforts by signing on to my petition today.
The ban is discriminatory and hateful, plain and simple.
But it’s about more than that – it’s also a matter of military readiness and national security.
Kicking thousands of trans service members out of our Armed Forces would undermine readiness and recruitment – and would take 20 years and billions of dollars to replace their lost expertise and talent.
Many trans service members have been serving openly for more than a decade, and 73% of trans service members are senior personnel who have extensive experience.
They are combat-ready. They’re deployed. And they’re fully fit for service in our meritocratic all-volunteer force.
Deeming these service members unfit solely because of their identity goes directly against our goal of having the strong military needed to keep our country safe.
If you’re with me on this issue, please add your name today to demand that Trump rescind Executive Order 14183 and allow our trans service members to continue serving their country.
Thanks for standing with me.
-Sara
