By Sally Jane Black
The Supreme Court voted in January to uphold the Trump regime’s ban on transgender people serving in the imperialist U.S. military. The ban is an attack on the trans community, designed to whip up transphobia and continue the process of forcing trans people back into the closet. This has been the administration’s agenda since they took office. This move baits people into promoting the idea that those who are fighting for trans rights should also aspire to serve the U.S. military, reinforcing the lie that the U.S. military is a force of progress for oppressed people. The truth is, the U.S. military is the armed wing of the U.S. capitalist class, destroying other countries that stand up to the exploitation and destruction of imperialism. Even with access to the military, trans people would not be made equal in society, nor would participation in imperialist violence bring liberation for any oppressed people.
LGBTQ people consistently experience a higher rate of sexual and physical assaults, arbitrary and outdated restrictions for trans service members, and other forms of control and abuse that are meant to force them to submit their own interest to the interests of U.S. imperialism. The military has preyed on LGBTQ people and our lack of access to healthcare and other basic needs in order to convince us it’s in our interest to bomb and kill our fellow workers in other countries. The answer to this ban is not to demand trans people be allowed to serve, but to demand healthcare, housing, education, and jobs, anti-discrimination rules, and solidarity with the working class worldwide. The answer to the transphobia fueling this ban is solidarity among the working class and the oppressed people of the world.