Image credit: Spencer Platt

This morning, our president decreed that the military “will not accept or allow” transgender people to serve (fact check: they already do), citing “tremendous medical costs and disruption.” So, hang on a sec, what’s the dollar amount there?


The military has been paying for medication and surgeries for transgender service members for almost a year, with the upper end of the cost estimate at $8.4 million dollars per year. If that sounds like a lot, remember that it’s less than the cost of:

Viagra for soldiers ($42 million on name-brand Viagra, $84 million on erectile dysfunction drugs in general), as Jenna Ruddock points out.

Three of the president’s government-funded golf trips



Two cents, per year, of your taxpayer dollars

Just to put things in perspective.