“No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.” – 14^th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America

The Constitution, a document that the United States government abides by, and has abided by since 1787, has, and still does, shape the United States into what it is today. From civil rights, to the freedom of speech, this country has used the constitution as a handbook to tranquility for centuries.

So, why stop now?

On Aug. 25, Trump signed a memorandum that aligned with his tweets a month prior.

After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow……

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2017

….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

….victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Thank you

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2017

The memo that he signed declared that the U.S. military can no longer allow transgender men and women to serve in the military. It also declared, that unless the process is already underway, no one in the military will receive government funds for sex-reassignment surgeries.

This memorandum seems to ‘abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States’ to me. Why should gender identity impact whether or not a person can defend this country? According to Trump and his Twitter account, ‘…our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail…’.

Many lawsuits have been filed against this ban, most of them on behalf of transgender individuals that are, were or hope to be in the military. According to the ACLU, one of the groups that has sued, roughly 8,800 transgender people are enlisted in the military right now. These individuals in the military do not deserve to lose the privilege to serve due to who they are.

In an unsettling way, this seems familiar to all of the bans against minorities serving in the military. Every minority was deemed a distraction, or just not fit for the job. Yet, the United States has enlisted people of different races, sexes, social and sexual identities for years. People that, before they thrived there, were deemed a disruption. Despite worries that minorities will hurt it, the U.S. Military still flourishes today as the strongest military in the world.

As for Trump’s statement, ‘…cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs…’, medical care that is gender related costs $8.4 million out of the $49.3 billion of the expenses toward Defense Department healthcare. In reality, this seems to me worth the opportunity that transgender Americans deserve.

We all deserve the right to protect and serve our country, and why should we ever take that away? If anything, this country should want all the help it can get, especially in this time of natural and societal disasters.

The United States should be united and join together, no matter what your gender identity, sexual identity, race, sex or religion is. Picking and choosing who is a member of the United States military is a form of discrimination, and definitely not a quality of unity. If a person wants to defend this country, let them defend this country.