Prof: Trump's transgender ban echoes 'Nazi eugenic propaganda'
A Clemson University professor is comparing President Trump’s ban on transgender soldiers to “Nazi eugenic propaganda,” calling it “ableism deployed to incarcerate or kill disabled people.”
“As a friend pointed out, the notion that trans people are ‘too expensive’ echoes the ideologies of ableism deployed to incarcerate or kill disabled people, and Nazi eugenic propaganda against disabled people,” Clemson University English professor Jonathan B. Field wrote in a Facebook post one day after Trump announced the decision in a tweet.
In three separate tweets, Trump stated that “After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military.”
Trump then elaborated that “Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail.”
Field also pondered “how much of the transphobic insistence that all bodies be cis bodies also comes from an ideology of ableism, as a version of a demand that all bodies be perfect, symmetrical, and legible,” subsequently elaborating in the comments section that “the demand that the bodies of strangers be legible in terms of gender seems like it might have some corollaries in similar demands that strangers be racially legible.”
[RELATED: Prof: ‘fat shaming’ by doctors can ‘damage people’s health’]
In another post on July 26, Field expressed a desire to correct Clemson students who engage in “transphobic” behavior.
“Queer hivemind: I have students who run into classmates opining ‘you either have a penis or a vagina, so trans people don't exist,’" he wrote. “I would welcome links to resources these students can share to point out how this is transphobic BS? Like Trans 101 for dummies.”
Field also took issue with Republican Senator John McCain in other posts, at one point comparing McCain’s July 25 healthcare vote following a brain cancer diagnosis to a hypothetical scenario in which '70s NBA player Willis Reed releases lethal sarin gas into a crowd of fans.
“How inspiring would it have been if Willis Reed had hobbled onto the [Madison Square Garden] floor in the '70 finals, but then released a canister of Sarin?” Field pondered before declaring, “That's basically what John McCain just did.”
In a second post, Field appears to compare McCain’s vote to a hypothetical scenario in which star Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson “snapped the [University of South Carolina] Gamecock winning streak on a torn ACL, and then dynamited the levee that keeps Lake Hartwell out of Death Valley, drowning thousands of his fans.”
Campus Reform reached out to Professor Field, but he declined to comment.
Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @rMitchellGunter
