AMY GOODMAN: Let me ask you about Trump’s trans policies. President Trump signed this memorandum banning most transgender people from serving in the U.S. military. The new policy, signed just last Friday, comes after Trump announced unexpectedly on Twitter last July he was banning all transgender people from U.S. military service. The White House spokesperson, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, issued a statement on the measure, saying, “the accession or retention of individuals with a history or diagnosis of gender dysphoria—those who may require substantial medical treatment, including through medical drugs or surgery—presents considerable risk to military effectiveness and lethality. This new policy will enable the military to apply well-established mental and physical health standards … equally to all individuals,” she said. So, Chelsea Manning, you’ve been through this in the military in prison. You were demanding healthcare change for trans prisoners. And now this latest statement from the president?
CHELSEA MANNING: Well, this isn’t about trans—this is about trans people in the military. And the reason why we keep having these orders is, and why they keep coming, you know, whether it’s the Muslim ban or anything else, is they’re trying to make it OK to be hateful to minority groups. They’re picking—you know, and they’re picking policy positions to do it, and they’re picking orders to do it, because it sends a signal, you know, from the highest office in government, that it’s OK to hate trans people, it’s OK to hate Muslim people, it’s OK to hate immigrants, it’s OK to hate people. You know, that’s the signal. That’s the underlying undertones of these kinds of things. It’s not about the policy positions. This has nothing to do with trans people in the military, and everything to do with sending a signal.
And it’s the same with the bathroom bills. You know, like, we didn’t—trans people, we’ve been using bathrooms for decades. We didn’t just come out of nowhere and start using bathrooms. You know, like these so-called debates are a distraction to the underlying message, which is that it’s OK to hate people, when it’s not.
