Rand Paul on Transgender Rights: 'Government Shouldn't Ask About Your Personal Life'

The Kentucky senator's libertarian streak makes him reluctant to condemn Obama policies.

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) heads back to his office after two television interviews in the Russell Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill June 1, 2015 in Washington, DC.
Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

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By David Weigel

June 6, 2015 at 6:10 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

A news week that started with Caitlyn Jenner's debut in Vanity Fair ended with another transgender rights milestone. On Thursday, the United States Air Force announced that it would no longer discharge recruits with gender dysphoria, and that "identification as transgender, absent a record of poor duty performance, misconduct, or a medically disqualifying condition, is not a basis for involuntary separation."

Republican candidates for president did not exactly sprint for the microphones. The two veterans in the contest, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham and former Texas Governor Rick Perry, served in the Air Force Reserve and Air Force, respectively. Neither commented on the new ruling; neither has said much, generally, on the frontiers of LGBT policy.