This Is How Much Transgender Troops Cost Taxpayers Since 2016
The Pentagon has spent nearly $8 million to treat more than 1,500 transgender troops since 2016, including 161 surgical procedures, according to data obtained by USA TODAY.
As of Feb. 1, 1,071 service members have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Public Health Service on active duty and in the reserve force. . .
Transgender troops and their medical and psychological treatment has been a flash point for controversy since President Donald Trump tweeted in July 2017 that he wanted to ban them from the military. In January, the question reached the Supreme Court, which ruled that a modified ban could take effect while lower court challenges continued. . .
….Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2017
Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have blasted the Pentagon policy as bigoted. She invited transgender troops to Trump’s State of the Union address this month.
Data on the population of transgender troops have been closely held at the Pentagon. The most definitive estimates of the population of transgender troops have come from a Defense Department-commissioned report in 2016. The non-partisan RAND Corp. report estimated as many as several thousand among the 1.3 million service members on active duty in the Air Force, Army, Marine Corps and Navy. RAND researchers determined that their treatment would have negligible effects on military readiness. (Read more from “This Is How Much Transgender Troops Cost Taxpayers Since 2016” HERE)
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