Trump’s evangelical advisors reportedly discussed transgender ban at White
House meeting
Emily McFarlan Miller ("RNS," July 27, 2017)
President Trump’s announcement on Twitter that he was banning transgender
people from serving in the military seemed spontaneous and reportedly
caught some administration officials and congressional leaders by surprise.
But evangelical Christian leaders who informally advise the president
discussed reversing the year-old policy two weeks ago at the White House,
according to David Brody of CBN (Christian Broadcasting Network) News.
“NEW ON @TheBrodyFile: Faith advisors to @realDonaldTrump discussed
strategy to reverse transgenders in military policy at WH two weeks ago,”
Brody
tweeted Wednesday evening.
A number of those leaders, including some who had been on Trump’s
evangelical advisory board during the campaign, attended a daylong meeting
July 10
at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. The building is next door to
the White House and houses the offices of most White House staff, according
to the White House website.
Those who attended the meeting have said it touched on issues such as
health care, taxes, religious liberty and judicial appointments. It was not
clear from Brody’s tweets or reporting on “The 700 Club” if this is the
meeting he was referring to.
Photos shared widely on Twitter showed evangelical leaders laying hands on
the president in prayer afterward in the Oval Office.
Brody also tweeted that Trump’s evangelical advisers had sent the
president a letter this week asking him to reverse the policy on transgender
people
serving in the military.
And he added his praise for the president’s decision, tweeting, “The
transgender announcement by @POTUS is more proof that @realDonaldTrump has
become a dream come true for conservative evangelicals.”
The Trump White House continually has turned a spotlight on the Christian
Broadcasting Network, with press secretary Sean Spicer appearing on its new
online show, “Faith Nation,” last week (before he resigned) and the
president himself sitting down to an interview with “The 700 Club” host Pat
Robertson earlier this month.
The announcement of the ban on Wednesday (July 26) drew both cheers and
condemnation from leaders of all faiths. The Family Research Council, one
organization that praised the decision, also had published a daily prayer last
week calling the military’s policy “wicked,” according to the New York
Times. Its president, Tony Perkins, is one of the evangelical leaders who
attended the meeting at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building and prayed
for Trump.
But there will be no change to the military’s policy “until the President’
s direction has been received by the Secretary of Defense and the
Secretary has issued implementation guidance,” according to internal
communication
reported on by Politico.
The New York Times and other outlets reported the ban came in response to
a fight on Capitol Hill over whether taxpayer money should pay for gender
transition and hormone therapy for transgender people in the military.
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