Trump directs Pentagon to implement ban on transgender service members

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has directed the Pentagon to ban the recruitment of openly transgender individuals and to stop providing medical treatment for sex reassignment treatments, but is leaving it to military leaders to determine whether transgender members of the armed services should be allowed to continue to serve.

The presidential memorandum signed by Trump on Friday reverses an Obama administration change that would have allowed transgender service members to openly serve and receive medical treatment as members of the military. The Obamaera directive ordering the Pentagon to allow the recruitment of transgender people who want to serve would have gone into effect in January 2018.

According to the memorandum, Trump believes the Obama administration failed to provide sufficient basis to determine that terminating the Department of Defense’s long-standing policy “would not hinder military effectiveness and lethality, disrupt unit cohesion, or tax military resources.”

The memorandum states that “further study” is necessary to ensure that the policy change would not have negative effects on military readiness.

In June 2016, President Barack Obama allowed transgender service members to serve openly in the military and ordered the Pentagon to determine a policy for allowing transgender people to join the military within a year. However, this year, Defense Secretary James Mattis delayed the entry of transgender troops until January 2018, citing the need to further evaluate the impact on the military’s “readiness and cohesion.”

The memo comes weeks after Trump abruptly announced the ban in a series of tweets on June 26. It was not immediately implemented by the military.

“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,” Trump wrote. “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.”

The memo gives the Pentagon six months to determine how to implement Trump’s directive prohibiting the service of transgender people, as it relates to those currently serving. The prohibition on funding sex-reassignment surgeries will go into effect on March 23, 2018, with an exception for individuals currently undergoing the procedures.