America’s tech titans are pushing back against President Donald Trump‘s statement on Wednesday that he will block transgender people from serving in the military.
Billionaire Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted one sentence to his personal Facebook page: “Everyone should be able to serve their country — no matter who they are.”
Apple CEO Tim Cook tweeted his objection to the notion of a ban with the hashtag, “#LetThemServe.”
Tim Cook: We are indebted to all who serve. Discrimination against anyone holds everyone back
And Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey also added his objection, saying that “discrimination in any form is wrong for all of us.”
Jack Dorsey: Discrimination in any form is wrong for all of us
Early Wednesday, Trump published three tweets saying that, since the “medical costs and disruption” of transgender military personnel were burdensome, he would “not accept or allow” them “to serve in any capacity” in the U.S. armed services.
As various media outlets have pointed out, however, those costs are minimal and pale in comparison even to military spending on Viagra.
It is not immediately clear how Trump’s tweets will affect current transgender army personnel, who, according to a study commissioned by the Defense Department, total about 11,000 individuals.
CEOs and business leaders from Silicon Valley have increasingly been taking stands on political issues. Elon Musk, for example, left all three government advisory councils when the President withdrew America from the Paris climate accord.
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Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook and Jack Dorsey oppose Trump's transgender troop ban