With President Donald Trump’s military transgender ban having taken effect, officials in at least three states have come out against the ban and will not enforce it in their National Guards.
The Daily Beast reported on Tuesday that Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak, a Democrat, will join California and New Mexico in the rebuke of Trump.
“The State of Nevada does not discriminate against anyone, including and especially service members, based on gender identity or expression,” Helen Kalla, communications director for Sisolak, told the Daily Beast. “Governor Sisolak believes the only criteria to serve in the Nevada National Guard is one’s readiness to serve.”
Maj. Gen. Matthew Beevers, the deputy adjutant general for the California National Guard, said the gender identity of his troops are the least of his concerns.
“Every transgendered soldier or airmen currently serving in the California National Guard will remain in our ranks,” Beevers said. “Further, we will not treat any soldier or airmen any differently today, than we did yesterday.”
“Anybody who is willing and able to serve state [and] nation should have the opportunity to serve. It’s unconscionable in my mind that we would fundamentally discriminate against a certain class of people based on their gender identity,” he continued. “That should be the absolute least of our worries.”
Beevers maintained they will “explore every avenue to ensure that transgendered people who want to serve in the California National Guard are afforded every opportunity to serve.”
KOB 4 Eyewitness News reported Tripp Stelnicki, a spokesman for New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, said transgender troops will be able to join their National Guard.
“We are not going to discharge any transgender individual from serving in our state National Guard, nor would this state ever discriminate against someone based on their gender identity,” Stelnicki said. “The capacity to do the job effectively is the first and only consideration New Mexico will make in determining who serves in its National Guard.”
The National Guard Bureau did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.
