If you were to ask me about the transgender community four years ago, I would have had no idea what to tell you. In all honesty I probably would have made some rude comment where I called a transgender person an “it” because I thought that was correct. As an 18-year-old kid, I really couldn’t come to terms with how someone felt they were a different gender than what they were born as. I remember hating Caitlyn Jenner because she won an award for coming public with her transgender stories, and now I understand that they have been the most courageous thing Jenner has ever done.

My understanding of the transgender community has done a complete 180, and while I do not claim to be an expert or to fully understand what it means to be transgender, I have come to sympathize with them. Because of my new-found understanding, I find it appalling that the Trump administration has imposed a ban on transgender soldiers in the military.

Now I am no expert on the military, and I never even considered joining a branch, but this sounds like a bunch of bullies exiling a person because of a personal choice. The white agenda of Trump’s administration becomes ever more present as the days go on. First it’s a “hush-hush” mindset when it comes to police brutality, then its blaming Jews for not having armed security at a synagogue and now its banning people from joining the military because of their gender or sexuality.

The oppressive mindset of Trump, his supporters and his administration is a daunting one that now has its sights set on the transgender community. It is a right of the American people to attempt to enlist and join the military.

Being transgender does not justify a reason to be banned from defending your country. What does this mean for the future of the transgender community? Do we ban them from competing in sports and going to the same grocery store? The conservatives of this country are quick to dismiss the transgender community as a plague upon the United States, when in reality they are just the same as the average human. They have every right to be treated just like a normal human, and anyone who thinks differently is the real plague on the United States.

Whether a black person, a white person, a Chinese person, a Mexican person, an Indian person, a woman, a man, or a transgender person is trying to protect our country, they need to be allowed to.

LGBTQ culture has existed in our society for decades, much of it being in secret. I’m sure at some point a transgender person served and the country is still standing today. To ban transgender people from joining the military is one of many steps the Trump Administration has taken in order to enact a white supremacy mentality in the country. Our mentality must change, and we must find a way to win rights for all groups of people in this country.