Trump puts out restrictive transgender military order

PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Donald Trump released an order Friday night banning most transgender troops from serving in military except under “limited circumstances,” following up on his calls last year to ban transgender individuals from serving.

The White House said retaining troops with a history or diagnosis of “gender dysphoria,” those who may require substantial medical treatment “presents considerable risk to military effectiveness and lethality.”

Trump surprised the Pentagon’s leadership in a 2017 tweet when he declared he would reverse an Obama-era plan to allow transgender individuals to serve openly.

His push for the ban has been blocked by several legal challenges, and three federal courts have ruled against the ban. The Pentagon responded by allowing those serving to stay in the military, and it began allowing transgender individuals to enlist beginning Jan. 1.

“This new policy will enable the military to apply well-established mental and physical health standards, including those regarding the use of medical drugs, equally to all individuals who want to join and fight for the best military force the world has ever seen,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Friday.

Earlier Friday, Maj. David Eastburn, a Pentagon spokesman, said the announcement of a new policy would have no immediate practical effect on the military because the Pentagon is obliged to continue to recruit and retain transgender people in accordance with current law.