I've seen a few different stats linked, a UCLA Law School study claimed the number 15500, RAND study estimates ~4k, who knows what the real number is. But the actual number, however small it is, is besides the point.
Here is what I'm concerned about:
- General Mattis, the secretary of defense, has been looking into this and said that it would require 6 more months of weighing the pros and cons, yet Trump went ahead and made this decision on twitter without notifying Mattis or the Joint Chiefs. Of course they made sure not to contradict him, but they will not change any policy until they receive a formal order.
- The extra cost per transgendered military employee is roughly $1000. Given the RAND statistics, this is an extra $4M a year in costs, which is less than 15% of what the president has spent on personal trips to Mar-a-Lago in 7 months as president. This is a very small price to pay to avoid discriminating against the entire LGBTQ community as well as their cisgendered advocates.
- This is the same argument that has been made every time a new group wants to join the military: "it is distracting and prevents us from readiness having to deal with ____ joining the military". You can insert a wide variety of groups into the _____ from the last couple hundred years.
- The military is a huge sector with many varied jobs. Not everyone in the military is in special forces or a SEAL.
- Transgendered people who are currently in the military have to worry about a dishonorable discharge that could prevent them from ever working for the government again.
- There are possibly other solutions besides outright banning transgendered from the military, like out of pocket pay to lower the costs. I don't really know the legality of this approach, but it's worth mentioning.
- It's worth hearing stories of ex and current military people who are transgendered about this. The daily show smartly decided to not just poke fun or say fuck you to trump and did a segment interviewing two transgendered officers last night: http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2017/07/27/the_daily_show_interviews_transgender_veterans_about_trump_s_ban_video.html
All in all, this is a somewhat complicated issue, because in the end it does cost more ($1000 avg) to allow a transgendered person to join the army than a cisgendered person, but it's still discrimination, and the method by which it was announced could not have been more unprofessional or impulsive. If Mattis and other Generals had deliberated for 6 months and reluctantly came to a conclusion similar to Trump's it would be one thing, but they did not. This needs to be fleshed out and discussed, not made rashly for obvious political reasons.