Top military officer advises not to ban transgender troops

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon’s top uniformed officer said Tuesday that he believes gender identity is not a credible reason to discharge transgender service members from the military, an opinion that puts him at odds with President Donald Trump.

Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he has advised the White House to keep any troops who have served “with honor and value” and will continue to provide that advice.

“I would say that I believe any individual who meets the physical and mental standards and is worldwide deployable and is ... serving should be afforded the opportunity to continue to serve,” he said.

It was the latest example that the Pentagon was not on board when the president took to Twitter on July 26 to declare a ban on transgender troops in uniform.

Trump said then that he made his decision “in consultation with my Generals,” but it is not clear who gave him that advice.

The White House issued formal guidance to the Pentagon last month that followed up on Trump’s tweets, and said the Pentagon should submit final plans to the White House on implementation of the transgender ban by Feb. 21.

Trump is seeking to reverse a year-old Obama administration policy that ended a longtime prohibition on transgender people serving in the armed services and the Coast Guard.

Despite Trump’s moves, several military leaders have publicly sought to reassure transgender service members that the Pentagon would not reimpose a ban until a panel of experts had studied the matter.

Several thousand selfdeclared transgender service members are in uniform, including some deployed overseas.