The Day

U.S. military leaders want delay on transgende­r enlistment

- By LOLITA C. BALDOR

Washington — Military chiefs will seek a six-month delay before letting transgende­r people enlist in their services, officials said Friday.

After meetings this week, the service leaders hammered out an agreement that rejected Army and Air Force requests for a two-year wait and reflected broader concerns that a longer delay would trigger criticism on Capitol Hill, officials familiar with the talks told The Associated Press.

The new request for a delay will go to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis for a final decision, said the officials, who weren’t authorized to discuss the internal deliberati­ons publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Transgende­r servicemem­bers have been able to serve openly in the military since last year, when former Defense Secretary Ash Carter ended the ban, declaring it the right thing to do.

But Carter also gave the services until July 1 to develop policies to allow people already identifyin­g as transgende­r to newly join the military, if they meet physical, medical and other standards, and have been stable in their identified genders for 18 months.

The military chiefs had said they needed time to study the issue and its effects on the readiness of the force before taking that step.

Officials said Friday that the chiefs believe the extra half-year would give the four military services time to gauge if currently serving transgende­r troops are facing problems and what necessary changes the military bases might have to make.

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