Pelosi Floor Speech in Support of Resolution to Reject the Discriminatory Ban on Transgender Individuals Serving in the Military

Speaker Pelosi. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.  I thank the distinguished Chairman for yielding time and really for his leadership on this very important issue as to who we are as a nation, how we honor our oath to protect and defend the American people.  In doing so, recognizing the contribution of all who want to serve our country.

I want to thank you, Mr. Adam Smith, for your leadership.

I also want to acknowledge the leadership of our colleague, Joe Kennedy, sponsor of this legislation, for his relentless leadership, his forming and Chairmanship of the Transgender [Equality Task Force] that has been so important in making clear in our policy that we respect the dignity and worth of every person.

Mr. Speaker, the men and women who step forward to serve in the U.S. military are patriots, all of them.  People of great strength and courage whose sacrifice keeps us safe.  We owe those heroes our most humble gratitude and our most steadfast support.

And I want to thank our trans friends for their service, their courage, their patriotism in serving our country.  Thank you.

Instead of honoring their service, the President continues to insist on his cruel transgender servicemember ban.  This is an act of cruelty.

Let us all salute, again, Congressman Joe Kennedy, a champion for equality, fairness and dignity in this Congress, for his firm moral leadership on this resolution to oppose the President's bigoted ban.

This resolution is a resolution that our distinguished Chairman, Mr. Smith, and our colleague, Joe Kennedy, are putting forth is bipartisan because protecting transgender servicemembers is a matter of patriotism and it transcends politics.

The President's ban, as I said, is cruel and arbitrary, a decision designed to humiliate the transgender Americans who are risking and giving their lives for the United States of America.

There is no moral justification for this ban, which violates every value of our American democracy and betrays our fundamental belief in fairness, dignity and respect.  There is no medical justification for this ban, which the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association and the American Psychiatric Association all oppose.  And there is no military justification for this ban, which would undermine our military readiness and make America less strong and safe and that is according to our own military.

After the President first unleashed his ban, 56 retired generals and flag officers issued a statement asserting that the ban would create, would cause significant – these are their words, ‘would cause significant disruptions, deprive the military of mission-critical talent and compromise the integrity of transgender troops who would be forced to live a lie, as well as non-transgender peers who would be forced to choose between reporting their comrade or disobeying policy.'

As a result, they go on to say, ‘The proposed ban would degrade readiness even more than the failed Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy did.'

Other military leaders have spoken out to denounce this ban.  Former Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullin, Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley, Commandant of the United States Carl Schultz, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson, Commandant of the Marine Corps General Robert Neller.

Yet the President has chosen to ignore the expertise of these military leaders, making clear, the President has done, that prejudice not patriotism drives his decisions.

The President's ban, again, is cruel.  No one with the strength and bravery to serve in the U.S. military should be turned away because of who they are.

The House will continue to fight this discriminatory action, which has no place in our country.  We will never allow hate and prejudice to dictate our national security.

I hope we have a resounding Yes vote to reject the President's ban today.  Again, I thank our distinguished Chairman, Mr. Smith, our colleague, Joe Kennedy, for his leadership and courage, and yield back the balance of my time.