CNN: Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush Responds to Trump's Religious Liberty Commission
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Analysis
Tracking Trump's executive orders: Trans military service
Executive Order 14183: Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness
Date Signed: January 27, 2025
Key Provisions:
- Executive Office 14183 claims that transgender military personnel “cannot satisfy the rigorous standards” due to the fact that expressing a “false ‘gender identity’” is inconsistent with the oath one takes to be “honorable” and “truthful” when joining the armed forces
- Executive Office 14183 further claims that “a man’s assertion that he is a woman, and his requirement that others honor this falsehood, is not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member”
- This revokes Executive Order 14004 from the Biden Era, “Enabling All Qualified Americans To Serve Their Country in Uniform,” which prohibited discharges and denials of enlistment based on gender identity
Interfaith Alliance Counterpoints:
- Interfaith Alliance strongly believes in the inherent worth and dignity of transgender people, and we oppose any policy that discriminates against them. The false claims the Executive Office makes that transgender Americans are unable to meet the standards of military service due to their gender identity is not only harmful but false. Multiple reports by the NIH, DoD, and the Secretary of Defense have shown that transgender individuals able to serve openly in the military are consistent with military readiness and that their gender identity does not affect their ability to serve effectively.
- Interfaith Alliance is alarmed at the transphobic rhetoric coming from the Executive Office. The spreading of misinformation surrounding transgender people is extremely harmful to not only trans people but American society as a whole. The offensive assertion that a transgender person’s gender identity is a “falsehood” contradicts millions of transgender people’s lived experiences, including transgender people who have honorably and faithfully served in the military. Labeling gender identity as a “falsehood” is not only harmful but dismissive of the sacrifices and experiences of transgender folks, both serving in the military and living in America.
- Additionally, the fallacy that gender identity is not consistent with “humility and selflessness” undermines the same values that the armed forces hold: respect, service, and dedication to a common cause.
Transcript
The Trump Administration’s Latest Attacks on Muslim Community Leaders
After months in detention, we finally received the good news that Ohio chaplain Ayman Soliman was released from jail as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) dropped his deportation case. Soliman was an interfaith chaplain at a children’s hospital and a longtime leader of the Ohio Muslim community with deep ties to interfaith work across the state. As ProPublica reported, Soliman’s asylum status was restored and his application for a green card was revived. This news came through the dedicated hard work and advocacy of many organizations, particularly CAIR-Ohio and his colleagues at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, who were fired for speaking out on his behalf.
Mahmoud Khalil’s deportation case has alarming implications
Earlier this year, during the holy month of Ramadan, ICE agents followed Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil home after he broke his fast and forcibly detained him without a warrant. Khalil, a Palestinian activist, was then disappeared into an unmarked vehicle and taken to an unknown location as his pregnant wife watched and pleaded for information. It was later revealed that Khalil had been moved to a detention center in Jena, Louisiana, where he faced deportation. He was held for over three months in poor conditions, missing his graduation and the birth of his first child.
True Religious Freedom Means Protecting Our Faith Leaders, Not Detaining Them
In early July, Ayman Soliman, a former Cincinnati Children’s Hospital chaplain, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after his asylum status was terminated in June. In response, local faith leaders organized a prayer vigil, rally, and peaceful march; during the march at least 15 protesters were detained by local police and charged with felony rioting.