Energy Secretary Rick Perry took time Friday during his visit to an air conditioning manufacturer in Texas to declare support for President Trump’s ban on transgender military service.
Perry told reporters he backs the policy change after his visit to the Daikin Texas Technology Park in Waller, Texas, basing his reasoning on the cost of transition-related care, according to the Texas Tribune.
“I totally support the president in his decision,” Perry was quoted as saying. “The idea that the American people need to be paying for these types of operations to change your sex is not very wise from a standpoint of economics.”
Trump made dubious claims about “tremendous medical costs and disruption” posed by transgender military service when announcing his ban Wednesday on Twitter.
According to a study the RAND Corp., costs associated gender reassignment surgery would actually be very little. The study estimated those surgeries would consume between $2.4 million and $8.4 million annually out of the Pentagon’s multi-billion dollar budget.
“I think the president makes some good decisions about making sure that we have a force that is capable,” Perry reportedly added.
As ThinkProgress reported, the U.S. military actually spends ten times as much $84 million on erectile dysfunction medication than it would under RAND Corp.’s estimate for gender reassignment surgery.
Asked about that cost comparison, Perry reportedly quipped, “You know what, I don’t check on the price of Viagra.”
Perry has a long anti-LGBT history as Texas governor and perennial Republican presidential candidate, which includes declares support for the now lifted ban on gay troops in the Boy Scouts of America. As energy secretary, penned an op-ed against his alma mater Texas A&M over the election of its first openly gay student president, Bobby Brooks, saying the system was rigged in his favor in a “quest for diversity.”
