Zuckerberg blasts Trump's ban on trans people serving in the military
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wasted no words in his post opposing the new ban on transgender people serving in the military announced in a series of tweets by President Donald Trump on Wednesday.
Zuckerberg, who has been known to wax rhapsodic about topics close to his heart, used just 13 words in his tweet-sized Facebook post to make it clear that "Everyone should be able to serve their country -- no matter who they are."
Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg later echoed Zuckerberg's sentiment and said in a post that we should be "grateful for everyone, including those in the transgender community, willing to serve our country."
Zuckerberg joined a small, but influential and growing chorus of tech voices, many of whom are part of the U.S. west-coast-based tech community that woke up to the stunning news hours after many of us had time to digest this information.
Their tweets of outrage, disapproval, and support for the LGBTQ community started appearing around noon ET.
Among the first to voice his displeasure with Trump's decision was Box CEO Aaron Levie who wondered where the White House moderating forces are.
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Soon after, Google CEO Sundar Pichai chose to praise those in the transgender community already serving in the U.S. military.
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YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki tweets that "Transgender rights are human rights," and included a video featuring a transgender man who did serve in the military.
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Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted Wednesday afternoon that "Discrimination in any form is wrong for all of us.
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Salesforce and its CEO Mac Benioff tweeted a company statement and image thanking "all U.S. service members, including transgender Americans..."
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Apple CEO Tim Cook, himself a member of the LGBTQ community, warned, "Discrimination against anyone holds everyone back."
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Etsy CEO Chad Dickerson echoed a common refrain, thanking all who serve in the military, regardless of gender identity.
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SurveyMonkey CEO Zander Lurie noted that "inclusivity drives success."
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This story is still developing...
Lance Ulanoff was Chief Correspondent and Editor-at-Large of Mashable. Lance acted as a senior member of the editing team, with a focus on defining internal and curated opinion content. He also helped develop staff-wide alternative story-telling skills and implementation of social media tools during live events. Prior to joining Mashable in September 2011 Lance Ulanoff served as Editor in Chief of PCMag.com and Senior Vice President of Content for the Ziff Davis, Inc. While there, he guided the brand to a 100% digital existence and oversaw content strategy for all of Ziff Davis’ Web sites. His long-running column on PCMag.com earned him a Bronze award from the ASBPE. Winmag.com, HomePC.com and PCMag.com were all been honored under Lance’s guidance.He makes frequent appearances on national, international, and local news programs including Fox News, the Today Show, Good Morning America, Kelly and Michael, CNBC, CNN and the BBC.He has also offered commentary on National Public Radio and been interviewed by newspapers and radio stations around the country. Lance has been an invited guest speaker at numerous technology conferences including SXSW, Think Mobile, CEA Line Shows, Digital Life, RoboBusiness, RoboNexus, Business Foresight and Digital Media Wire’s Games and Mobile Forum.
