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CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
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WHEREAS, Transgender service members have served openly in |
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the U.S. military since 2016, bravely defending our nation, but the |
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Trump administration is implementing a new de facto ban on |
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transgender troops; and |
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WHEREAS, Years of research and consideration by the Pentagon |
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and the secretary of defense guided the decision to officially |
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allow transgender people to serve in the military, and today, our |
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armed forces include nearly 15,000 transgender troops around the |
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world, in all occupational specialties; in 2018, all four service |
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chiefs, as well as the incoming commandant of the Coast Guard, |
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testified to the U.S. Congress that transgender service members do |
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not impair the cohesion of military units and that they had not seen |
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any discipline, morale, or unit readiness problems; and |
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WHEREAS, Previously, 56 retired generals and admirals |
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released a statement warning that the ban "would cause significant |
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disruptions, deprive the military of mission-critical talent, and |
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compromise the integrity of transgender troops who would be forced |
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to live a lie, as well as non-transgender peers who would be forced |
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to choose between reporting their comrades or disobeying policy"; |
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and |
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WHEREAS, Six former United States surgeons general issued a |
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statement to "underscore that transgender troops are as medically |
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fit as their non-transgender peers and that there is no medically |
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valid reason, including a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, to exclude |
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them from military service or to limit their access to medically |
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necessary care"; the American Medical Association, the American |
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Psychological Association, and the American Psychiatric |
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Association have all expressed opposition to the ban, which is |
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based on flawed scientific and medical assertions; and |
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WHEREAS, A 2016 RAND study concluded that allowing |
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transgender people to serve would have "minimal impact" on Pentagon |
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readiness and health care costs and "little or no impact on unit |
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cohesion, operational effectiveness, or readiness"; and |
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WHEREAS, Historians relate that transgender soldiers fought |
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in the American Revolution and the Civil War, among them hundreds of |
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individuals assigned female gender at birth who enlisted and served |
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in the military as men; one well-known example, Union Army soldier |
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Albert Cashier, fought in the siege of Vicksburg and other battles |
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and continued to live as a transgender man after the war; and |
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WHEREAS, The ban on transgender troops is a policy dictated |
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by prejudice rather than sound, considered analysis of the needs of |
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our military and its personnel, and in an era when recruitment is a |
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challenge, it is particularly reprehensible to bar and eject |
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qualified individuals who want to serve our country; now, |
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therefore, be it |
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RESOLVED, That the 86th Legislature of the State of Texas |
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hereby respectfully urge the United States Congress to oppose the |
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transgender military ban; and, be it further |
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RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official |
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copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to |
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the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of |
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Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the |
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members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that |
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this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a |
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memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. |