LeadershipSocial Media

‘Everyone Should Be Able to Serve.’ Mark Zuckerberg Blasts President Trump Over LGBT Military Ban

Aric JenkinsBy Aric Jenkins
Mark Zuckerberg Attends Mobile World Congress
Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg speaks during his keynote conference as part of the first day of the Mobile World Congress 2014 at the Fira Gran Via complex on February 24, 2014 in Barcelona, Spain.
David Ramos Getty Images

The leaders in charge of two of the world’s most popular social media platforms have weighed in on President Donald Trump’s decision to ban transgender people from all branches of the U.S. military.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was among the first major business leaders to publicly denounce the ban. “Everyone should be able to serve their country — no matter who they are,” he wrote Wednesday on Facebook. Zuckerberg’s message received more than 111,000 likes and was shared more than 4,000 times as of Wednesday afternoon.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey soon followed suit, writing in a tweet: “Discrimination in any form is wrong for all of us #LetThemServe.”

https://www.facebook.com/zuck/posts/10103919587377271

Trump announced the ban on Twitter early Wednesday, citing “tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail.”
Trump said the ban would bar transgender individuals from enrolling in the armed services and would not “allow” them to serve, seemingly indicating that current transgender soldiers would be affected as well. But the President did not explain how the military would deal with transgender people already serving.
Other Silicon Valley leaders could speak out in time. Many notable tech companies have taken steps to push an agenda of diversity and inclusion within their workplaces.