White House pushes trans troop ban

The Trump administration is going ahead with its promise of banning transgender troops from serving in the military.

The news came without warning to people familiar with the issues, but in no way did it come as a surprise.

It has been this administration’s position since July 2017, when President Trump announced in a series of tweets his plan to reverse a 2016 decision by then-President Barack Obama ending a longstanding military ban on transgender troops.

Trump announced that after consulting with “my generals and military experts,” he would ban “transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S.,” adding that the military could not be “burdened” with any medical costs related to transgender troops.

The plan, which came as a shock to the Pentagon, faced several lower-court challenges in subsequent months. But on Jan. 22, the Supreme Court cleared any actions that blocked the controversial ruling.

In a memo signed by Deputy Defense Secretary David Norquist Tuesday, the Pentagon approved the administration’s long-wished-for ban, which will force individuals to serve in their birth gender, and also bar transgender personnel from transitioning to their self-identified gender.

The move could mean the discharge of an estimated 13,000 transgender troops, according to The Advocate.

The Defense Department has defended the policy, calling it “not a ban on service by transgender persons.” It claims that transgender Americans are welcome to serve in the military, as long as they serve in their birth gender.

But transgender rights activist and lawyer Chase Strangio said people need to be “extravigilant with this administration.”

Strangio is as a staff attorney with the ACLU’s LGBT & HIV Project. He told the Daily News about seeing the Trump administration’s constant attacks on certain communities, while the White House works hard on its “efforts to obscure the reality of what they’re doing through subsequent statements and litigation positions.”