【twelve volumes of clio’s teachings on eroticism and pleasure】

Donald Trump is twelve volumes of clio’s teachings on eroticism and pleasureunconvinced that transgender people have the right to exist. At least, that's the message behind his recent string of destructive tweets.

In the series of his most damaging and demeaning tweets yet, President Trump announced on Wednesday that he's banning transgender people from all forms of military service. And while that's clearly identity-based discrimination, it gets worse. Trump's choice to announce such a policy on Twitter using cold, offensive language further illustrates the jaw-dropping disregard and distaste he and his administration have for the transgender community.

SEE ALSO: Chelsea Manning, Joe Biden react to Trump ban of transgender individuals from the military

The policy, which doesn't have a clear timeline for being implemented, follows a six-month delay by the Department of Defense in recruiting new transgender soldiers while military leaders investigated how trans people impact the "readiness or lethality" of the U.S. military.

Estimates vary drastically, but anywhere between 5,000 and 15,000 trans people currently serve in the military, with more than 134,000 transgender veterans alive today. That's an incredible number of people left in limbo by three tweets sent back-to-back on a Wednesday morning.

It's estimated that the U.S. military is the largest single employer of transgender people in the country, with transgender people twice as likely to enlist in the military than non-transgender people.

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Researchers and advocates suspect that's partially because military service provides stable, well-compensated employment. This, of course, comes at the immeasurable risk of sacrificing your life. But trans Americans experience twice the unemployment rate of non-transgender people and staggering underemployment rates, meaning military service is a viable means of employment, economic security, and survival that often isn't afforded to transgender people.

That is, until now.

In his eyes, and the eyes of his administration, they are not even worthy of letterhead.

“This is worse than don’t ask don’t tell. This is don’t serve, don’t serve," says Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality. "This is an appalling attack on our service members — it is about bigotry rather than military readiness, reason, or science. It is indefensible and cannot stand."

Trump is often criticized for his use of Twitter, but this announcement takes the president's unruly social media tactics to a new level. Announcing the ban on Twitter is impersonal and cold, showing that Trump has little regard for the transgender community. In his eyes, and the eyes of his administration, they are not even worthy of letterhead.

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Trump reasoned that the "tremendous" cost of gender confirmation procedures validated the need to remove trans people from the military. Fixating on the cost of such procedures, however, is offensive and ignorant, especially when medical costs for the military already balloon to a $47.8 billion per year. Transition-related health expenses would only increase that budget by $4 million to $5 million dollars, which researchers have called minimal and "nothing more than a rounding error."

Trans-affirming medical professionals have called confirmation procedures "essential and life-saving," likening it to any medically necessary procedure. Yet, Trump is honing in on this minor cost as an excuse to ban an entire population from service based on their identity.

Make no mistake, this isn't cutting costs. It's discrimination.

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But the language that Trump used to announce the ban is especially jarring, hinging on a long history of stigma surrounding transgender identity.

"Today further exposed President Trump’s overall goal to erase LGBTQ Americans from this nation."

The transgender community has long been labeled a "burden," which is the exact language Trump used on Twitter to announce the military ban. Trans people have been labeled a burden by their families who often disown them for their identity. They've been considered a burden on a two-gender society, excluded from public spaces through laws like bathroom bills. They've been called a troublesome burden on gender for challenging its confines, and as a result, they're harassed, attacked, or even murdered for daring to stray from their sex assigned at birth.

Trans people are not a burden or a distraction. What's truly disruptive of the military's success is the epidemic of sexual violence within the armed services, and the lack of mental health support veterans can access. These are issues that impact the "readiness" of the U.S. military, not the gender identities of individual soldiers.

Any potential "disruption" that trans identity brings to the military isn't the fault of transgender soldiers. It's the fault of non-transgender people who are so disturbed at another person's audacity to exist fully and unapologetically. Being transgender isn't a fatal flaw in someone's ability to serve their country. In fact, the bravery and strength it takes to persevere as a transgender person in U.S. society — especially under the leadership of an anti-LGBTQ president — are the exact qualities military leaders uphold as essential for soldiers.

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The language Trump used to announce the ban wasn't necessary to clearly declare a policy. His hostile wording and the cold method he used to deliver it served as a message to transgender people, telling them the president sees them as inhuman and inconvenient.

“President Trump today issued a direct attack on transgender Americans, and his administration will stop at nothing to implement its anti-LGBTQ ideology within our government," says Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD. "Today further exposed President Trump’s overall goal to erase LGBTQ Americans from this nation. Trump has never been a friend to LGBTQ Americans, and this action couldn’t make that any more clear.”

Trump ended his string of tweets with "Thank you." Those two words, however, aren't a signal of true gratitude, but a call for silence. His "Thank you" symbolized the end of a conversation, cutting off any rebuttal before it even happens.

It's the final mic drop of a leader unwilling to see and unmoved by the human toll of his policies. America -- and its trans community -- deserve better.

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Trump bars transgender people from military, calls them a "disruption"

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Topics LGBTQ Social Good X/Twitter Donald Trump