Chelsea Manning, progressive and LGBTQ groups slam President Trump's transgender ban

President Trump's announcement Wednesday that transgender people would not be allowed to serve in the military in any capacity sparked strong backlash from LGBTQ and progressive groups, and prominent members of the community. 

Chelsea Manning, the transgender U.S. Army soldier who spent seven years in prison for leaking classified documents, criticized the move. 

"So, biggest, baddest most $$ military on earth cries about a few trans people but funds the F-35? Sounds like cowardice. #WeGotThis," Manning wrote on Twitter.

Olympic gold medalist and transgender activistCaitlyn Jenner, a longtime supporter of Trump, criticized the president on Twitter.

"There are 15,000 patriotic transgender Americans in the US military fighting for all of us," Jenner wrote. "What happened to your promise to fight for them?"

Transgender actor Laverne Cox said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter that she had met with several transgender Americans who had served or currently serve in the military.

"I have heard from them humiliating stories of being misgendered and experiencing various kinds of mistreatment when they are willing to put their lives on the line in ways many of us would never do, including our current president," she said. "This latset reversal of another Obama administration policy continues to send the message to trans Americans that our lives, our safety and service are less valuable and unwanted in this country, the country I love and hold so dear."

Cox also spoke out on Twitter, saying, "Your lives, safety, & service matter."

Comedian and talk show host Ellen Degeneres called the ban "hurtful, baseless and wrong."

"We should be grateful to the people who wish to serve, not turn our backs on them," she wrote on Twitter.

Singer Katy Perry, an LGBTQ advocate, also criticized the ban.

"ALL those who defend our right to live freely should be able to serve freely!" she wrote on Twitter. "There are THOUSANDS currently serving! #ProtectTransTroops"

LGBTQ advocacy organization GLAAD called the ban, which reversed Obama administration policy, a "direct attack" on the transgender community.

"President Trump today issued a direct attack on transgender Americans, and his administration will stop at nothing to implement its anti-LGBTQ ideology within our government – even if it means denying some of our bravest Americans the right to serve and protect our nation," GLAAD president Sarah Kate Ellis said.

"Today further exposed President Trump's overall goal to erase LGBTQ Americans from this nation."

Gregory Angelo, president of the Log Cabin Republicans, a group within the GOP that advocates for LGBT rights, said that Trump's announcement was about politics and did a disservice to transgender military personnel.

"The United States military already includes transgender individuals who protect our freedom day in and day out," he said in a statement. "Excommunicating transgender soldiers only weakens our readiness; it doesn't strengthen it."

Sarah McBride, the national press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign, called Trump's decision "reprehensible, unpatriotic and dangerous."

Jonathan Greenblatt of the Anti-Defamation League called the ban "shameful and discriminatory."

"We stand w/trans & LBGT community," he wrote on on Twitter.