President Donald Trump on Thursday
defended his plan to bar transgender people from serving in the
military.
At a press conference from his golf
club in Bedminster, New Jersey where the president is vacationing,
Trump said that he has “great respect for the community” before
describing his proposed ban as a “great favor” to the military.
“I have great respect for the
community,” Trump
told reporters. “I think I have great support, or I had great
support from that community, right? Got a lot of votes. But the
transgender, the military's working on it now; they're doing the
work.”
“It's been a very difficult
situation, and I think I'm doing a lot of people a favor by coming
out and just saying it. As you know, it's been a very complicated
issued for the military. It's been a very confusing issue for the
military, and I think I'm doing the military a great favor,” he
added.
LGBT groups criticized the president's
comments, with HRC President Chad Griffin describing them as
“delusional.”
“Donald Trump’s delusional comments
regarding his reckless ban on transgender troops are demonstrably
false and lack any basis in reality,” Griffin said in a statement.
“Donald Trump’s attack on transgender troops weakens our military
and is a betrayal of those who wear the uniform. Fifty-six retired
admirals and generals, Republican and Democrat elected officials, and
a majority of the American public have all condemned Trump’s
misguided and despicable policy that will do nothing but undermine
military readiness and harm brave transgender service members and
their families.”
GLAAD tweeted: “Does respect look
like stopping 15,000 trans service members from doing their jobs?”