George Takei Burns POTUS On Transgender Armed Forces Ban: Those Who Saw Trump As LGBT Ally Were ‘Conned’
George Takei is outraged over the transgender military ban announced earlier this morning by President Donald Trump.
In a series of tweets posted shortly after news of the controversial move broke out, the Star Trek star and prominent LGBT activist unleashed a furious rant against the President’s statement, which included an “I told you so” comment about those who thought Trump would be supportive of LGBT causes.
A report from CNN detailed how Trump announced on Wednesday morning that he is planning to reinstate a previous ban on transgender individuals serving in the U.S. armed forces in “any capacity.” This move would reverse the policy previously approved by former President Barack Obama’s Defense Department, which was under final review at the time Trump took over the presidency earlier this year.
As HuffPost noted, there are thousands of transgender men and women presently in the U.S. military. And with that, as well as the President’s Twitter announcement in mind, George Takei offered his take on Trump’s planned reinstatement of the transgender military ban, quoting his tweets in full, and referring to Trump as the “cruelest and pettiest” president in U.S. history, on top of his being the “stupidest (and) most incompetent.”
A few minutes later, Takei offered the following comments directed at the LGBT community, particularly those who thought Donald Trump would be sympathetic to their causes.
“Trump is banning all transgenders from the military. To those who believed Trump would be a friend to LGBTs, time to admit you were conned.”
History shall record that you are not only the stupidest, most incompetent president ever, but also the cruelest and pettiest. #Shame pic.twitter.com/8R4jVOIYmd
— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) July 26, 2017
Subsequent tweets from George Takei regarding Trump’s transgender military ban announcement had the actor calling the president out for “p***ing off the wrong community” and quipping that Merriam Webster needs to redefine the word “a**hole” in the light of today’s events. Takei, 80, also retweeted a post from former Vice President Joe Biden, stating that all patriotic Americans qualified to serve in the military should “be able to serve, full stop.”
It should come as no surprise that George Takei is one of the more vocal individuals against Donald Trump’s proposed transgender military ban. As noted in a 2006 interview with the Progressive, Takei had come out as gay the year prior, doing so well after his best-known television role as Lt. Sulu on the original Star Trek TV series. He is currently married to a man named Brad Altman, whom he married in September of 2008 after over two decades together, according to USA Today.
Takei has also been a longtime supporter of LGBT rights, with multiple awards for his contributions to the community, as well as one of the more popular celebrities on social media, wrote Fox News in 2014. As of this writing, Takei’s Facebook page has over 10.3 million likes and 9.4 million followers.
George Takei’s stand against Donald Trump’s transgender military ban isn’t the only one coming from a well-known member of the LGBT community. According to the Hill, former Army veteran and WikiLeaks whistleblower Chelsea Manning, a trans woman previously known as Bradley Manning, tweeted that Trump’s move “sounds like cowardice,” considering the president’s statement on Twitter made reference to the “tremendous medical costs” the U.S. armed forces may have to pay if transgender men and women serve in the military.
[Featured Image by Adam Bettcher/Getty Images]
