How One Trump Tweet Changed These Service Members' Lives
Imagine getting a promotion only to find out shortly after you may just lose your job entirely.
That’s what happened to the subjects of “TransMilitary,” a documentary following four trans military service members.
“Everyone was doing great. Then this [Trump] tweet happened, and now all their lives are back in jeopardy once again,” Fiona Dawson, co-director of the film, told Cheddar.
Last July President Donald Trump shocked the world when he [tweeted](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/890193981585444864)[ that](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/890196164313833472)[ trans](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/890197095151546369) people would be banned from serving in the military, citing concerns over associated medical costs.
But a federal judge ended up blocking the administration’s proposal in November, putting back in place an Obama-era policy that allowed transgender service members to serve and enlist openly.
There are currently more than 15,000 trans individuals serving in the military, according to the National Center for Transgender Equality. Dawson said that these numbers make the U.S. military the largest transgender employer.
“So that tweet [was] good and bad,” she said. It “gave us the chance to have this conversation.”
TransMilitary debuted over the weekend at the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Tex.
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/exploring-the-lives-of-trans-service-members-in-transmilitary).
U.S. District Judge David Ezra stopped short of ordering Texas to dismantle the wrecking-ball sized buoys on the Rio Grande but called them a threat to safety and relationships between the neighboring countries.
Four months after a civil trial jury found Donald Trump sexually abused and defamed advice columnist E. Jean Carroll, a federal judge has ruled still more of the ex-president’s comments about her were libelous. The decision means an upcoming second trial will concern only how much more Trump has to pay Carroll.
Sentencing of former Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio for a plot to attack the U.S. Capitol in a failed bid to stop the transfer of presidential power after Donald Trump lost the 2020 election.
The U.S. government is taking a big step toward forcing a defiant Tennessee company to recall 52 million air bag inflators that could explode, hurl shrapnel and injure or kill people.
The top prosecutors in all 50 states are urging Congress to study how artificial intelligence can be used to exploit children through pornography, and come up with legislation to further guard against it.
