Former Republican leader calls for ban on Pride and transgender soldiers
The former GOP Majority Leader has called on the Trump administration to reaffirm a ban on transgender soldiers and outlaw military Pride celebrations.
Tom DeLay, who served as Majority Leader in the US House of Representatives from 2003 to 2005, signed a letter authored by the ‘Conservative Action Project’ group.
He was joined by former Congressmen David McIntosh and Bob McEwen, as well as former Reagan officials Edwin Meese, Becky Norton Dunlop, and T Kenneth Cribb Jr.
The letter calls on President Trump and Defence Secretary James ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis to “review and rescind the Obama-era policies that hinder military readiness”, such as permitting Pride events.
It claims that “the Trump Administration should discontinue funding and directing personnel resources for special-interest events, including LGBT-Pride Month events in June, which do not strengthen military readiness”.
The letter also urges the administration to reverse policies that will allow transgender people to openly serve.
It says: “Transgender issues have become especially prominent since various Obama Administration decisions holding that as of June 30, 2016, transgender service members would no longer be discharged from military service, and as of July 2017, transgender recruits would be accepted into the military.
“Obama’s Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter adopted these policies, even though such personnel are likely to need costly medical, surgical, and psychological care that may undermine readiness by rendering these service members non-deployable.
“It must be difficult to suffer from gender dysphoria and confusion about one’s sexual identity, but concerns about these individuals do not justify mandates on military medical doctors and nurses to approve, provide, or participate in life-altering transgender treatment or surgeries.
“Many object to these experimental treatments on grounds of medical ethics or sincere religious convictions.
“Secretary Mattis should suspend and, upon further careful study, rescind Defense Department and military service directives permitting transgender individuals to serve.”
Mr Delay was forced to resign as Majority Leader in 2005 after he as indicted on criminal charges of conspiracy to violate election law.
The GOP politician was convicted in 2010 of money laundering and conspiracy charges related to illegal campaign finance activities, but the charges were later quashed by the Texas Court of Appeals.
Homophobes recently voiced their happiness after Donald Trump ended official Proclamations for LGBT Pride Month.
The anti-LGBT Family Research Council praised Trump for “refusing to declare June LGBT pride month”.
In a blog post they called for him to “step in and put a stop to a display that puts a sexual fringe on the same pole as Old Glory” across government.
