Transgender is when a person’s sense of personal identity and gender does not correspond with their sex. They start dressing like the opposite gender from what they were born into. Some people even go through surgical procedures to alter their bodies to match the opposite sex. The current President Donald Trump has put a ban on people who identify as transgender from entering the military. The President’s initial announcement, via tweet, stating that he planned to expel transgender troops and new recruits from the armed services took almost everyone by surprise.
On January 22, the Supreme Court revived the policy of barring most transgender people from serving in the military with a vote of 5 to 4. This ruling could appear heartless and as discrimination against soldiers who are transgender forcing them to end their careers or hide their identities. The article’s authors believe this ruling should be reversed and the previous directive of 2016 by former president Barack Obama, allowing transgender troops to serve openly should be restored. They believe this new policy will be devastating to the target community if not reversed.
In addition, they give the opinion that the ruling will eventually be overturned stating the preliminary injunction preserved the status quo where as the new policy will upend the status quo. Through the use of ethos, pathos and logos, The Editorial Board establishes a purpose: to inform their readers of the current events regarding President Trumps new rulings excluding transgender people from the military as well as the possible results this decision could have on the transgender community and the American military as a whole and giving their opinion on whether this move is good or bad.
The target audience for this article is most adults and specifically people who identify as transgender. The article’s writers used pathos to express one of the emotional appeals, which is anger. The former defense secretary, Jim Mattis, claimed that “paying for the medical care of transgender troops is too high and that troops who are diagnosed with profound unease with their birth gender are too fragile and too troubled to remain in the service.” The authors of this article, The Editorial Board, placed their thesis at the end of the article which states, “a blanket decision rendering a whole class of personnel unfit to serve is, at its core, discriminatory— and badly mistaken.” This is an advantage because if their opinion was at the beginning of the article, readers who did not agree might just stop there and not finish reading to the end. A lot of people don’t have interest or might not want to further investigate something that does not match up with their beliefs and morals.
The authors tone seems to be purely factual but here and there small things make it sound like the author is against President Trumps decision. At the very end of the article, though, they take a blatant side in the argument voicing their claim that a blanket decision in the matter is a bad decision with potentially bad results. The author uses fear, anger and sympathy to appeal to readers and persuade them to come to the same conclusion they have which is their use of pathos. Fear for the people in the military who are about to lose their jobs and will no longer have their chosen carrier path as a source of income. Anger also for those in the military who are transgender and have excelled at what they do with no problems resulting from their lifestyle. And sympathy for friends and family members of these transgender people in the military.
The author uses logos and presents mostly factual evidence and some statistical information. Some of the statistics include “cost estimates for the care across all transgender troops put the average annual cost at only hundreds of dollars.” For ethos the most notable people the author references are the current president, Donald Trump, and the former president, Barack Obama. The people who agree with Trump would accept him as an expert, but the ones who don’t, most notable are the people who identify as transgender, would not consider Trump an expert. Also, the author seems to have extensive knowledge of this subject.
One of the purposes of this article is to inform the public of President Trump’s decision to ban transgenders from the military. Another purpose of the article is to persuade readers to accept the opinion of the author. The last purpose of this article is to help determine what should happen in the future regarding the topic issue. Former president, Barack Obama’s previous rule though, “allowed them to stop hiding that fact and, when necessary, seek the medical and psychological care needed to remain healthy.” This view signaled progress and acceptance for the transgender community as a whole and not just regarding the military. It is also said that “thousands of troops who serve our country loyally and effectively identify as transgender and many military leaders told congress that their presence in the military has not led to concerns about unit cohesion or military readiness. It is the authors opinion that the current reversal of the previous policy could be devastating and will be felt in more areas than just with the military.
In conclusion, President Donald Trump put a statement out banning transgender people from the military. This article explained the whats and the whys of the situation. The what being the current status of the votes which passed the ban on transgender people from the military, and the authors opinion that this decision is a mistake. The why being the justification of placing the ban on these soldiers was the cost of paying for a transgender troops medical care is too high, and their transgender status would cause disruption of unit cohesion or military readiness. It was also explained how the authors used ethos, pathos and logos in the article get their message across to the public.
Work Cited
- The Editorial Board. “Ban on transgender U.S. military members should be lifted.” Houston Chronical, https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/editorials/article/Ban-on-transgender-U-S-military-members-should-13553507.php. Accessed 28 January 2019.
