Tech leaders call for Trump to reverse his ban on transgender service members

[midian182]

Tech rivals have once again shown solidarity in their condemnation of Donald Trump. This time, it was the President’s announcement to ban transgender people from serving in the military that has led to the outcry.

Trump tweeted Wednesday that “the United States Government will not accept or allow Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military.”

“Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Thank you,” he wrote.

If the decision is turned into law, it will reverse a policy put into place by the Obama administration that allowed trans people to serve, offered aid with their transition, and introduced diversity training for soldiers working with trans individuals.

Leaders from the tech world have responded with the #LetThemServe hashtag. Google CEO Sundar Pichai was one of the first to tweet, writing: “I am grateful to the transgender members of the military for their service.”

We are indebted to all who serve. Discrimination against anyone holds everyone back. #LetThemServe

— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) July 26, 2017

#equalityforall pic.twitter.com/0odEdQ2aUR

— Marc Benioff (@Benioff) July 26, 2017

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, Jack Dorsey, Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft president Brad Smith, Uber, Intel's Brian Krzanich, Postmates CEO Bastian Lehmann, and many more were quick to offer their support.

Y combinator president Sam Altman tweeted that the “estimated cost of trans service members is less than a couple of Trump’s trips to Mar-a-Lago.”

Discrimination is wrong. Diversity makes ALL organizations
better. #LetThemServe #iamintel #bkrunner pic.twitter.com/OWkiotUIY2

— Brian Krzanich (@bkrunner) July 26, 2017

Bloomberg reports that a 2014 study estimated there were 15,500 trans people currently serving in the US military. According to analysis by the RAND corporation last year, their care would have come to $8.4 million in medical costs – “a little more than 0.1 percent of what the military spends on medical care for all service members,” and “about 0.0014 percent of Trump's total defense budget proposal.”

2/ These patriotic Americans deserve to be honored and respected, not turned away because of who they are.

— Uber Comms (@Uber_Comms) July 26, 2017

At the start of the year, the tech industry was united in its criticism of Trump’s immigration ban. A joint letter was sent to the president challenging the move.

More recently, the US withdrawal from of the Paris agreement resulted in widespread denunciation, leading to over 1000 firms signing an open letter that pledged their support for climate action.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/70319-tech-leaders-call-trump-reverse-ban-transgender-service.html

 

[Panda218]

Lets be honest all that matters is that you're 18 and in good health.

 

[davislane1]

It took me a while to figure it out, but I now know why everything Donald Trump does, however unrelated to tech, winds up on formerly-tech focused websites.

You see, if DJT does or says something, and somebody in the tech world has an opinion about it, it's automatically tech news. Because employment sector of commentator.

Lets be honest all that matters is that you're 18 and in good health.

If you identify as having chromosomes that you do not, you aren't in good health.

 

[TheBigT42]

Medical Reasons that keep you from joining the military

http://www.military.com/join-armed-forces/disqualifiers-medical-conditions.html

 

[stewi0001]

Medical Reasons that keep you from joining the military

http://www.military.com/join-armed-forces/disqualifiers-medical-conditions.html

Man with no balls, cannot serve XD

 

[bolski]

It took me a while to figure it out, but I now know why everything Donald Trump does, however unrelated to tech, winds up on formerly-tech focused websites.

You see, if DJT does or says something, and somebody in the tech world has an opinion about it, it's automatically tech news. Because employment sector of commentator.

Lets be honest all that matters is that you're 18 and in good health.

If you identify as having chromosomes that you do not, you aren't in good health.

It's not just physical but mental health. Also, the military is NOT about being PC, etc. It's about protecting our country.

Also, why is it that all these tech-heads say they should be allowed in, yet they never served? I did. The military is not for everyone. Hence, why basic training can be so mentally and physically exhausting. It's there to see how far they can break you down and if you can handle it. Because let me tell you, on the battle field, basic training will feel like kindergarten.

The military is NOT the place to "experiment" and see if this works. I hear others say "it's just like any other job". No, it's not. Depending on your job, and other situations, you may not be working an 8-hour day job, M-F. There are times where you could work 12-hour shifts for 4-days in a row or more. You could get deployed to a foreign country where the threat is real. If the transgender are already having mental issues due to not being able to cope with which sex they are, then that is reason enough to hold off and evaluate them some more outside of the military. People with history of mental health, as well as physical health issues are denied every day to enter the military. I had a friend who was prone to epilepsy. He was denied entry. Oh, and if you lie on your form and get caught lying, you're denied entry as well. And, if you do get entry and are found to have lied later on, discharged and not honorably let me tell you. And you don't want a section-8 discharge either. All black marks.

The military is not for everyone and it's not something that you must do. It's for a very elite group of people. The stress of being in the military can be draining on certain individuals, so that is why they do a rigorous evaluation from the time you attempt to sign up and get your physical, through basic training, and eventually through whatever tech training you must take for your career. Normal day-to-day can be fine, but when you are deployed, it's a different ball-game and it's not like any 9 to 5 job.

Also, funny how they say people must go through a mental and background check for purchasing firearms and those with mental health issues should not be allowed to purchase a gun. Yet, we are willing to put potential individuals with possible mental problems into the military, having their hands on more than just guns. Yup. I see the logic there. Let's be honest about that.

 

[IAMTHESTIG]

Screw the tech company leaders, they have NO say in how the country is ran and even more so how the military service is ran. The military service is here for one reason and one reason only, to protect our country. The CiC and military leaders have every right to decide on what they feel will provide the best performance of our troops and if that means eliminating some things then by all means do it. The military isn't here to make everyone a soldier.

 

[davislane1]

It's not just physical but mental health. Also, the military is NOT about being PC, etc. It's about protecting our country.

Also, why is it that all these tech-heads say they should be allowed in, yet they never served? I did. The military is not for everyone. Hence, why basic training can be so mentally and physically exhausting. It's there to see how far they can break you down and if you can handle it. Because let me tell you, on the battle field, basic training will feel like kindergarten.

The military is NOT the place to "experiment" and see if this works. I hear others say "it's just like any other job". No, it's not. Depending on your job, and other situations, you may not be working an 8-hour day job, M-F. There are times where you could work 12-hour shifts for 4-days in a row or more. You could get deployed to a foreign country where the threat is real. If the transgender are already having mental issues due to not being able to cope with which sex they are, then that is reason enough to hold off and evaluate them some more outside of the military. People with history of mental health, as well as physical health issues are denied every day to enter the military. I had a friend who was prone to epilepsy. He was denied entry. Oh, and if you lie on your form and get caught lying, you're denied entry as well. And, if you do get entry and are found to have lied later on, discharged and not honorably let me tell you. And you don't want a section-8 discharge either. All black marks.

The military is not for everyone and it's not something that you must do. It's for a very elite group of people. The stress of being in the military can be draining on certain individuals, so that is why they do a rigorous evaluation from the time you attempt to sign up and get your physical, through basic training, and eventually through whatever tech training you must take for your career. Normal day-to-day can be fine, but when you are deployed, it's a different ball-game and it's not like any 9 to 5 job.

Also, funny how they say people must go through a mental and background check for purchasing firearms and those with mental health issues should not be allowed to purchase a gun. Yet, we are willing to put potential individuals with possible mental problems into the military, having their hands on more than just guns. Yup. I see the logic there. Let's be honest about that.

An excellent tweet thread covering this same position:

https://twitter.com/jrsalzman/status/890233643179716608

Military service is not a social club. It isn't a CV enhancement service. People who are outraged over this care more about people's feelings and looking good to marketing departments than they do about people's lives.

 

[Kibaruk]

To add something else, men and women are not the same, for as much as people would like for everyone to be just people, if you see a man who used to be a woman, you can't expect him/her to do the same thing as another man, there would have to be special treatment. And we haven't even considered what's happening with the teams around them, the troops are not known for their impeccable intelligence, you can't expect for everyone to be ok with it and this brings issues.

Now think of how much someone who identifies as another sex must have suffered, I can only imagine how mentally and physically unbalancing it must be. Imagine that person in the military or in a conflict, the effects to an already unbalanced person.

 

[GeforcerFX]

Slam him all you want to this was what the Military leaders wanted, they have been politically forced to change who they allow to do what, and what standards those people have to meet to be able to do it. This usually resulting in the minimum requirements being lowered so less capable troops aren't left out of combat roles ,because it's super important woman get to fight even if they can't meet the standards. With transgender you have one way that might turn out ok as far as what they can do, and the other that physically will have difficulty keeping up with the rest of there unit. Since we haven't even finished working out how we handle transgender in a social sense, lets leave it out of the military, 10-15 years from now when it's more easily handled in our society it can be reviewed. I have no problem with any person serving as long as they can meet the requirements to do that specific task, I will not accept lowering the requirements, all you end up with then is inferior troops who have a higher chance of messing up causing either there own death or others.

 

[BlueDrake]

So we should paint everyone with the same brush, because it's just easier to just label everyone the same and keep them off the field for good? Not everyone saying that they should be serving on the front lines, with a weapon like many expect them to. There are obviously more positions and really, I will agree it's not for everyone at all. Just simply put them through the same rigors as others, but also don't make a scene because their differences. Who are you really helping in the end?

Yes this is a place of life and death, far from what everyone usually goes and experiences on a daily basis. Just everyone should still have equal rights regardless, if they pass then they pass. If there's issues then send them home like any other who didn't pass. Twisting the knife and stating it's for PR and such, might be true to an extent but not everyone is that way. I'd still trust them with my life if they have a solid mental resolve, like anyone else in the military.

Sorry I just view things differently, and technology does impact a lot of things these days. I can see both sides of the same coin. I'd rather not be exclusive because of some particular, "feelings" that someone has about everything.

 

[Panda218]

It's not just physical but mental health. Also, the military is NOT about being PC, etc. It's about protecting our country.

Also, why is it that all these tech-heads say they should be allowed in, yet they never served? I did. The military is not for everyone. Hence, why basic training can be so mentally and physically exhausting. It's there to see how far they can break you down and if you can handle it. Because let me tell you, on the battle field, basic training will feel like kindergarten.

The military is NOT the place to "experiment" and see if this works. I hear others say "it's just like any other job". No, it's not. Depending on your job, and other situations, you may not be working an 8-hour day job, M-F. There are times where you could work 12-hour shifts for 4-days in a row or more. You could get deployed to a foreign country where the threat is real. If the transgender are already having mental issues due to not being able to cope with which sex they are, then that is reason enough to hold off and evaluate them some more outside of the military. People with history of mental health, as well as physical health issues are denied every day to enter the military. I had a friend who was prone to epilepsy. He was denied entry. Oh, and if you lie on your form and get caught lying, you're denied entry as well. And, if you do get entry and are found to have lied later on, discharged and not honorably let me tell you. And you don't want a section-8 discharge either. All black marks.

The military is not for everyone and it's not something that you must do. It's for a very elite group of people. The stress of being in the military can be draining on certain individuals, so that is why they do a rigorous evaluation from the time you attempt to sign up and get your physical, through basic training, and eventually through whatever tech training you must take for your career. Normal day-to-day can be fine, but when you are deployed, it's a different ball-game and it's not like any 9 to 5 job.

Also, funny how they say people must go through a mental and background check for purchasing firearms and those with mental health issues should not be allowed to purchase a gun. Yet, we are willing to put potential individuals with possible mental problems into the military, having their hands on more than just guns. Yup. I see the logic there. Let's be honest about that.

An excellent tweet thread covering this same position:

https://twitter.com/jrsalzman/status/890233643179716608

Military service is not a social club. It isn't a CV enhancement service. People who are outraged over this care more about people's feelings and looking good to marketing departments than they do about people's lives.

A crazy christian rambling on Twitter. Yup its still 2017.

 

[davislane1]

Just everyone should still have equal rights regardless, if they pass then they pass.

Transgenders have the same rights as anyone else. The whole point of the outrage is that they now can't pass minimum requirements related to mental and physical health.

 

[davislane1]

A crazy christian rambling on Twitter. Yup its still 2017.

Hmm, yes, the "this combat veteran's point of view doesn't count because he has other points of view I don't approve of" response.

I tried to discount a smoothie at a smoothie bar like this one time. When they wanted me to pay the $3.00 for the smoothie, I responded, "Of course that's what the sign says. It has no brain." The irrefutable logic of this statement so impressed the cashier that she gave me a whole dollar off because they were having a special sale that day for people with disabilities.

 

[Rippleman]

Lets be honest all that matters is that you're 18 and in good health.

no, a ton of other factors matter. Age, health, handicaps, ability, intelligence level, etc etc etc

 

[m4a4]

Everyone should be able to serve their country -- no matter who they are.

I have to say, for "smart" tech industry leaders, they sure are dumb. Just taking this quote in particular literally is disturbing. Do we let everyone in, even the people with more serious mental health issues? How about the guy with severe asthma? The guy in jail for life? The 12 year old kid? Everyone, right?

At the very least they should try to specifically explain their position. Just putting a hashtag and a sentence or 2 means jack all.

Otherwise, if the US defines gender dysphoria as a mental illness, and the military doesn't allow individuals with mental illness to serve, why should they get special treatment?

 

[Kibaruk]

Hmm, yes, the "this combat vetran's point of view doesn't count because he has other points of view I don't approve of" response.

I would only add amputee combat veteran.

Lets be honest all that matters is that you're 18 and in good health.

no, a ton of other factors matter. Age, health, handicaps, ability, intelligence level, etc etc etc

So in other words, that you are over 18 and in good health?

 

[Rippleman]

I would only add amputee combat veteran.
So in other words, that you are over 18 and in good health?

Good health is subject to a large variety of sets of conditions. Good health for 18 is drastically different then good health for a 30, 40 50 etc year old. Give it up with what ever you are trying to say, there is no swing around.

 

[psycros]

How do you know when someone has made the right decision? When the "progressives" oppose it.

 

[Panda218]

Hmm, yes, the "this combat vetran's point of view doesn't count because he has other points of view I don't approve of" response.

I tried to discount a smoothie at a smoothie bar like this one time. When they wanted me to pay the $3.00 for the smoothie, I responded, "Of course that's what the sign says. It has no brain." The irrefutable logic of this statement so impressed the cashier that she gave me a whole dollar off because they were having a special sale that day for people with disabilities.

LOL good one!

My problem with him is that he automatically assumes that trans-genders are unfit for combat or any other role in the military. He makes some good points at the beginning, but it gets pretty sour towards the end of his rant. We know war isn't a video game and we're sorry you lost your arm.

The Christianity part on his bio was just the cherry on top.

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

Funny - this story is on TS, but the new Foxconn plant in the US isn't. Is that because tech news takes a back seat to Trump bashing? Trump creating jobs isn't news?

 

[Andro D]

These people have to say that because if they don't they're immediately threatened by boycotts etc. by pressure groups like GLAAD.

 

[mrjgriffin]

I agree with trumps decision but I've never understood transgenders, I understand being gay/liking the same sex as you and not the opposite but what is this deep passion for wanting/feeling you need a different set of parts downstairs? the thought is just insanely weird to me. I mean come on......I love a nice set of hooters and a nice vag but you don't see me going on female hormones and chopping my shlong and berries off and drilling a hole in my gooch. transgenders have something severely wrong in their brains to me. sorry that's just what my brain says to me about them. it's like they're a new form of inbred people or something. example: "bruce" jenner. an extremely weird person that I wouldn't leave alone in a room with my children. I'm sure I'll catch hellfire for this post but I don't care.

 

[captaincranky]

So we should paint everyone with the same brush, because it's just easier to just label everyone the same and keep them off the field for good? Not everyone saying that they should be serving on the front lines, with a weapon like many expect them to. There are obviously more positions and really, I will agree it's not for everyone at all. Just simply put them through the same rigors as others, but also don't make a scene because their differences. Who are you really helping in the end?...[ ]...

So basically, we should treat a specific type of homosexual differently than we treat heterosexuals?

Trump is to a certain extent correct about not letting them serve. Myself I'm not really ready to give a crap about a bunch of crazies, who apparently, (to hear you tell it) are, "too fabulous to be bothered with being real soldiers".

This argument went on for decades concerning women not being allowed or sent to the front lines. You're either equal, or you're not. You can't say, (at least not in clear conscience). that you won't fight at the front. The only people I recall being allowed to get away with that, were "conscientious objectors". Who incidentally, were at the front without weapons as medics, saving lives, and dying right beside the armed soldiers.

The average extreme examples of homosexuals, simply shouldn't be part of any army, they're entirely too self centric. And before I hear any crap about that remark, there are also any number of self centered heterosexuals, who wouldn't make good soldiers either.

To be a soldier, you must surrender your identity to the whole of an army, become one with that cause, and cast personal interests aside..

Face it, an extreme transsexual might decide to go out on the parade grounds and march around in 6 inch platforms and a gold lame dress with a feather boa. Then when the army told him (?) to stop and put on the required uniform, there would be a lawsuit. Why, you might ask? Because the army was, "violating that person's civil rights". Guess what, you have very few individual rights as part of an army.

As far as all these elitist a**holes from silicon valley and a myriad of gated communities elsewhere go, all Trump has to do is "anything", and they'll demand he do the opposite, and then proceed to tell him what they think he should do which better suits their agenda.

That's all they need to do to keep you, and your ilk, lapping up the sales at Amazon, giving your personal information to Google, pretend fight in video games etcetera, ad naseum..

 

[Bubbajim]

Pretty much all the arguments people have given against trans people serving in the military have just been arguments for a rigorous selection process, which is staying in place. This is about having the *chance* to serve. Having the chance to go through the selection process, to join the military "in any capacity" - not just combat roles.

It's hilarious seeing the hypocrites come out in force. If "the government" were to take away *your* rights, you get really pissed off. Even on threads on Techspot where they're talking about things like consumer protection regulations, people get all "err merr gerd it's mah capitalist rights! Ferk you, gervernment!", but as soon as someone else's rights are taken away, you've got a million and one excuses.

You guys really need to decide whether you actually believe in your "home of the free" stuff or not. No one is saying "sign up all the transpeople!", it's just disgraceful to not even allow them the chance.