Don inks bar on trans’ entry in military

Washington, Aug. 26: President Donald Trump on Friday signed a memo effectively barring transgender people from joining the US military, but left the fate of those already serving up to the Pentagon.

In a widely anticipated move, Mr Trump directed the military “to return to the longstanding policy and practice on military service by transgender individuals prior to June 2016” — to go into effect from March 23, 2018.

That means an effective ban on new openly transgender personnel and on payment for treatment for those already in the armed forces, aides said.

The memorandum calls on defense secretary Jim Mattis and homeland security chiefs to submit an implementation plan by mid-February, and granted Mattis broad discretion what to do about currently serving transgender personnel.

Mr Trump did leave open the possibility that Mr Mattis, in conjunction with the homeland security chief, could advise “at any time, in writing, that a change to this policy is warranted.”

Last month, Mr Trump deployed a series of tweets that called into question an Obama-era policy of allowing transgender troops to serve openly.

The tweets came with little apparent coordination with the Pentagon, resulting in speculation about the fate of between 1,320 and 15,000 transgender personnel already serving in the armed forces.

Several senior military officials had voiced unease over the policy shift.