WASHINGTON — The US House passed a resolution Thursday opposing the Trump administration’s ban on transgender service members in the military.
The resolution “strongly opposes President Trump’s discriminatory ban on transgender members of the Armed Forces,” and “rejects the flawed scientific and medical claims upon which it is based.”
The vote was 238-185, and five Republicans voted with Democrats. One of those Republicans was Indiana’s Trey Hollingsworth. He said “the honor of serving our country and protecting American freedoms should be open to anyone who can pass the physical , psychological, and medical exams.”
In January, the Supreme Court allowed Trump’s transgender military ban to go into effect.
Trump first announced the ban on Twitter in July 2017 and said the reasoning was the “tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgenders in the military would entail.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the Trump administration’s ban “an act of cruelty” in a speech on the House floor and said, “the men and women who step forward to serve in the US military are patriots, all of them.”
“The House will continue to fight this discriminatory action, which has no place in our country,” the California Democrat said. “We will never allow hate and prejudice to dictate our national security.”
CNN contributed to this article
(PHOTO: Tom Williams/Getty Images)
