Russian propaganda outlet Sputnik mocks US ‘Tranny troops’
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Russian state media outlet Sputnik News has mocked transgender troops in the US.
The US is set to start accepting transgender recruits into its armed forces this week, after the Trump administration lost a court battle over the issue.
The Trump administration had sought to block Obama-era guidance welcoming transgender troops from coming into force, but courts prevented officials from pushing back a January 1 implementation deadline.
State-controlled Russian media outlet Sputnik News jumped on the news with a headline mocking “Tranny Troops”.
The outlet’s headline read: “Tranny Troops: US Military to Accept Transgender Recruits Beginning 2018″.”
The propaganda agency added: “Following a capitulation by the administration of US President Donald Trump to a federal court ruling overturning a Trump attempt to ban transgender US military recruits, American soldiers will now comprise a much wider spectrum of humanity.”
The White House had opposed the move, but withdrew an eleventh-hour legal challenge after it became clear that the deadline would pass.
One commenter on the Sputnik article branded US soldiers “fags”, while another said: “Should be hilarious. Move over police academy, tranny academy is coming to a cinema near you.”
Sputnik came under fire last year after targeting French Presidential candidate Emmanual Macron with homophobic smears on the campaign trail.
Macron banned Russian state news outlets from his events, after Kremlin-owned outlet Sputnik published ‘gay’ smears alleging a “persistent rumour that [Macron] is secretly gay and living a ‘double life’”, and also accusing him of being in the pocket of a “very wealthy gay lobby”.
Despite being dismissed as propaganda, the rumours spread like wildfire across France and Europe, with a Danish MP branding him a “pretty little gay boy”.
Meanwhile, a Russian tabloid newspaper branded Macron a ‘gay psychopath’.
Macron lashed out at Russian outlets’ repeated homophobic assertions and attempts to spread gay hoaxes about him.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (Photo by KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP/Getty Images)
In an interview, Macron said: “Two things are vile behind the implication: to say that it is not possible for a man living with an older woman to be anything other than a homosexual or a hidden gigolo is misogynous. And it’s also homophobia.
“If I had been a homosexual, I would say it and I would live it.”
Macron was eventually elected President, besting far-right candidate Marine Le Pen in a run-off.
Meanwhile, transgender troops can enlist in the US from this week.
And at least one transgender person will be there to challenge the ban on day one.
Nicolas Talbott, a transgender man who has long dreamed of joining the military, says he will begin his application to join the military next Tuesday.
Mr Talbott, who has already been in touch with a military recruiter, will schedule an appointment with the Military Entrance Processing Station, and has been preparing to undergo the required tests and physical evaluations.
But he is hoping that, if the Trump administration is not successful in its attempts to block him, he will become the first person to flout the ‘ban’.
He told CNN: “This whole process with the courts has been a roller coaster.
“We are doing well, but we are not out of the woods yet. I’m trying to stay wary, and I’m definitely nervous that we might hit another setback.”
The 24-year-old Ohio man hopes to join the Air Force National Guard, and has spent a year preparing for the entrance exam.
Speaking to BuzzFeed, he added: “My Air Force recruiter is just sitting and waiting. He knows I’m ready.
“We’re just waiting on policy at this point — for the official paperwork to hit his desk.
“There really is nothing about allowing transgender people to enlist that is going to be a detrimental to the military at all.”
(Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Mr Talbott is getting support from LGBT rights organisation NCLR (National Center for Lesbian Rights).
NCLR legal director Shannon Minter said: “The clock is ticking, and every second we get closer to January 1, individuals like Nicolas whose lifelong dream is to serve our country are getting closer to realizing that dream.”
She added: “Trump’s ban is a dangerous policy, which has wreaked havoc in the lives of transgender service members and the entire transgender community. Each court that rules against it brings us closer to a permanent end to this nightmare.”
The Pentagon has already put procedures in place for trans troops to enlist after the January 1 deadline.
(Isaac Brekken/Getty Images)
The Trump administration has previously sought an emergency injunction to allow it to continue banning transgender personnel beyond the January 1 deadline.
The administration has been seeking an emergency stay to block the deadline, claiming that accepting transgender people would involve a massive bureaucratic burden and that 23,000 staff would need in-depth training on transgender issues.
It claimed: “There are considerable requirements associated with implementing this significant and complex policy change.
“Those personnel directly responsible for execution number in the tens of thousands and are geographically dispersed across the United States.
“Specifically, implementation of a new accession policy necessitates preparation, training, and communication to ensure those responsible for application of the accession standards are thoroughly versed in the policy and its implementation procedures.”
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The administration claimed that 20,367 recruiters and 2,785 employees would need training to “have a working knowledge or in-depth medical understanding of the standards and identity validation requirements associated with processing an applicant under new requirements”.
However, the claim was rubbished by three former military chiefs.
The three former surgeons general, Vice Admiral Donald C. Arthur, Major General Gale Pollock, and Rear Admiral Alan M. Steinman, found that contrary to the claims the training process “is not complicated or time-consuming”.
They wrote: “Trump administration officials have claimed that in order to begin processing transgender applicants for military service.
“According to the administration, training will be difficult and complex, because “no other accession standard has been implemented that presents such a multifaceted review of an applicant’s medical history” and because the military will have to “ensure that the ‘tens of thousands’ of service members ‘dispersed across the United States’ responsible for implementing accession policies ‘have a working knowledge or in-depth medical understanding of the standards.’
“[But] of the 23,000 personnel who DOD claims must be trained to process transgender applicants, 20,367 (89 percent) are recruiters.
“Recruiters do not need additional training to process applications from transgender candidates. All service members who
are now recruiters have received training along with the rest of the force in inclusive retention policy for transgender personnel, so they understand the basic outlines of policy and the basic facts of gender identity.”
They added: “Recruiters do not need to understand transgender medicine or transgender accession standards any more than they need to understand cardiology or cardiology accession standards.
“Recruiters help candidates fill out medical disclosure forms and determine whether medical records are needed and what documentation may be necessary. But they do not diagnose gender dysphoria.”
Recruiters’ only relevant responsibility is to help applicants prepare a required package of medical information, a simple and straightforward task.
“According to one of the nation’s top experts in accession policies and practices, sending a one-page instruction to all recruiting stations would suffice if it has not already been done.”
