The election of Donald Trump as president has some members of the LGBT community worried that the Pentagon under a Republican administration could rescind rules that have allowed gays and transgender troops to serve openly.
“We have heard from a number of our members and individuals that they are concerned that all the advancements we have made under the Obama administration could potentially be rolled back,” said Matt Thorn, executive director of OutServe, one the nation’s largest LGBT advocacy organization for the military community.
During President Obama’s second term, the ban on gays serving openly, known as “don’t ask, don’t tell” was lifted, and just this year Pentagon opened all combat positions to women, and issued new rules allowing transgender troops to serve.
During the campaign, Trump didn’t say much about LGBT issues, except to say generally that he was reaching out to the community.
Speaking to veterans in Virginia last month, Trump was asked directly by a retired military man what he would do about what the questioner called the “forces of political correctness” that had turned the military into an “institution for social experiments” regarding “women in combat, transgender rights and other issues.”
In response, Trump seemed to agree, saying “Some of the things that they’re asking you to do and be politically correct about are ridiculous,” but then adding he would likely defer to the military leadership on the social issues.
“I will say I would leave many of the decisions of some of the things you mentioned to the generals, the admirals, the people on top,” Trump said at the Oct. 3 event. “We get our military people to come back and make recommendations to me and I will follow those recommendations. I will follow them very strongly.”
Advocates for gay and transgender rights say it will be difficult to order an about-face at this point.
“As far as women in the military, and gays and lesbians in the military, and transgender troops in the military are concerned, these policies are done and dusted,” said one scholar who studied the issues during the Obama years. “Military organization in general, and our military in particular really doesn’t like to be whipsawed, and you did see everyone fall in line after the new policies were put in place,” he said.
But gay rights groups were alarmed when Trump chose Mike Pence as his running mate, who as Indiana governor signed his state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which critics claimed promoted discrimination against gays and transgender individuals.
“He’s selected a running mate who is very staunchly anti-LGBT in a variety of different fashions and who was against repeal of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ so I think that would be an indicator,” said Thorn. “But President-elect Donald Trump hasn’t explicitly said what he plans to do, so I think it’s hard for us to really gauge that at the moment.”
Some changes would be easier to makes than others. For instance, ballistic missile submarines have already been reconfigured to accommodate berthing for female crew members, while the regulations for transgender troops are still being implemented and affect only a small number of service members.
One indication of Trump’s thinking might be gleaned from an April interview with NBC’s “Today Show,” when then-candidate Trump was asked about North Carolina’s controversial bathroom law.
Trump seemed to indicate that he favored the path of least resistance.
“You leave it the way it is,” Trump told host Matt Lauer. “People go, they use the bathroom that they feel is appropriate. There has been so little trouble.”
If Trump does follow the advice of his top generals, he will find at least one is a strong advocate of gays rights, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley.
Speaking about Eric Fanning, the first openly gay Army secretary, Milley said, “The U.S. Army is open to all Americans who meet the standard … regardless of their gender, regardless of their identity, or their sexual preference.”
