A Lockport business owner said that his sign mocking transgender individuals was intended as "satire," Herald-News reported Aug. 16.
The sign, which said, "Help wantedmust be female from birth," was posted by owner Richard Tisch at the Will Co. Loan Company pawn shop.
Tisch maintained that the sign was a satire intended to protest taxpayers having to pay for transition surgeries for transgender military members.
"I don't care what transgenders do," Tisch said. "If you want to have a sex change, that's fine. I don't want to pay for it."
The owner of a neighboring jewelry store, who rents from Tisch, said that he must publicly differentiate his own viewpoints from those of his landlord because of the frequently inflammatory signs.
Military service by transgender individuals has been an especially fraught topic since President Donald Trump unilaterally announced via Twitter in July that they would be banned from serving. No specific directives regarding a ban have been forthcoming from Trump administration officials, however. A 2016 report by the RAND Corporation estimated that transition-related medical services would cost the military from between $2.4 million to $8.4 million annually, which would amount to an increase in .13 percent in its healthcare spending.
Herald-News' article is at bit.ly/2wef0CC .