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Summary: President Donald Trump will send the Pentagon transgender military guidelines in the next few days.
President Donald Trump is following through on his promise to ban transgender people from military service, according to Fox News. The White House has plans to send the Pentagon guidelines on the matter in the next few days and these guidelines will give Secretary of Defense James Mattis six months to implement the changes.
The guidelines reportedly will stop new transgender individuals from being admitted into the military, and they will instruct General Mattis to consider whether or not current transgender military members are deployable and should remain in service.
Additionally, the White House told Fox News that it would no longer spend money on transgender-related medical treatments and surgeries for active military members, a policy that started while President Barack Obama was in office.
The Obama Administration gave transgender individuals the right to serve in the military, but on July 26, President Trump tweeted that he would reverse this policy.
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“After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow…Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming…victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Thank you,” Trump tweeted.
In 2011, gay and lesbian individuals were allowed to openly serve in the military, and in 2016, transgender people were admitted into the service. The Obama Administration had set a deadline of July 1, 2017 to determine how to handle transgender recruits, but General Mattis had asked for an extension before Trump made his announcement.
It is not known what Mattis would have decided before Trump made his decision on the issue, but NPR said that Mattis mostly cares as to whether or not transgender people were fit to serve.
“The big issue for Mattis is service,” NPR stated. “If you’re in the military, people who know him say, he’ll give a lot of leeway for keeping transgender people in — unless there’s some huge medical issue that prevents deployability.”
The number of transgender active members has been estimated to be 1,000 to 15,000. According to a report from the nonpartisan company, Rand Corporation, there has been no issues regarding transgender military members since they were allowed to enlist.
Two weeks ago, Donald Trump spoke at a golf course in New Jersey about his decision to ban transgender people from the military.
“Look, I have great respect for the community. I think I have great support — or I’ve had great support from that community,” Trump said. “I got a lot of votes. But the transgender — the military is working on it now. They’re doing the work. It’s been a very difficult situation. And I think I’m doing a lot of people a favor by coming out and just saying it. As you know, it’s been a very complicated issue for the military. It’s been a very confusing issue for the military. And I think I’m doing the military a great favor.”
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