Angry protesters took to the streets of New York City and Washington DC on Wednesday night after the president announced his ban on transgender people serving in the armed forces.
Crowds gathered outside the famed US Army Recruitment center in Times Square with signs bearing slogans including ‘resist’ and ‘rise up’ in a show of defiance against the president’s announcement.
Others marched on foot outside the White House bearing signs which read ‘we’re here, we’re queer,we hate the f****** president’.
The demonstrations were in response to an announcement he made earlier on Wednesday in which he described the cost of transgender healthcare in the military as a ‘burden’.
‘After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military.
‘Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail,’ he said.
‘There are 15,000 patriotic transgender Americans in the US military fighting for all of us.
What happened to your promise to fight for them?’ Jenner asked her 3.9million followers.
New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer was among those present at the protest on Wednesday.
He addressed the crowd with a megaphone and used his speech to poke fun at the president who he said had skipped enlisting in the 1960s so that he could ‘hang out at Studio 54’.
The president dodged the draft to serve in the Vietnam war because he had bone spurs in his heels.
Four other deferments were given so that he could pursue his education.
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