President Donald Trump tweeted Wednesday that “the United States Government will not accept or allow Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military.” He claimed that medical costs to support transgender soldiers are a “burden.”
Tech execs are standing up to Trump’s ban against transgender people serving in the military
But will their words lead to any changes to the proposed policy?
A lot of people are upset about the comments, and now the tech industry is starting to voice its displeasure with Trump’s decision, though it’s unclear when (if ever) this might actually come to be.
First up, somewhat surprisingly, was Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who rarely calls out Trump by name but has disagreed with Trump’s policies in the past.
Zuckerberg posted a single sentence: “Everyone should be able to serve their country — no matter who they are.”
Twitter’s Jack Dorsey quickly followed suit in a tweet: “Discrimination in any form is wrong for all of us #LetThemServe.”
It’s possible we’ll hear from more Silicon Valley leaders over the next 24 hours — LGBTQ rights have always been an important issue for tech companies. The question is whether or not their words will lead to any changes in Trump’s proposed policies.
Update: Other tech companies and CEOs are piling on here. Google’s Sundar Pichai was actually the first to share something on Twitter early this morning, even before Zuckerberg, and Apple’s Tim Cook has also tweeted his displeasure with Trump’s proposed policy.
Postmates CEO Bastian Lehmann also tweeted his support of allowing transgender soldiers serve in the U.S. military.
Uber doesn’t like Trump’s idea either.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
