At a White House press briefing on Monday, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany dodged and weaved when asked by Washington Blade reporter Chris Johnson whether Donald Trump would reconsider the ban on transgender troops in the military following a letter last week from more than 100 House Democrats calling on the military to end the ban.
McEnany did not have an answer but rattled off a set of specious claims: “I haven’t talked to him about that specific policy, but this president is proud that in 2019 we launched a global initiative to end the criminalization of homosexuality throughout the world. He has a great record when it comes to the LGBT community. The Trump administration eased a ban on blood donations from gay and bisexual men and he launched a plan to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030, so we’re very proud of our achievements.”
When pressed by Johnson with facts that 70 percent of Americans support transgender service and the recent Supreme Court ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, that determined anti-transgender discrimination in employment to be illegal, McEnany replied: “I have no updates for you, but several of the events that you cited, like the Supreme Court ruling, I would refer you back to Justice Kavanaugh, who said, ‘We are judges, we’re not members of Congress. Instead of a hard earned victory won through the Democratic process, today’s victory is brought about by judicial dictates.’ So we’ll always stand on the side of correct statutory interpretation.”
