White House Guidelines To Give Defense Secretary Six Months To Implement Transgender Ban
A memo will direct the Pentagon to stop admitting transgender people, and give Defense Secretary Jim Mattis the power to decide whether to kick active members out of service. Previously, the policy had only been laid out in a series of tweets from President Donald Trump.
The Wall Street Journal:
White House Sets Rules For Military Transgender Ban
The White House is expected to send guidance to the Pentagon in coming days on how to implement a new administration ban on transgender people in the military, issuing a policy that will allow Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to consider a service member’s ability to deploy in deciding whether to kick them out of the military. (Lubold, 8/23)
The New York Times:
Military Transgender Ban To Begin Within 6 Months, Memo Says
A White House memo that is expected to be sent to the Pentagon in coming days gives Jim Mattis, the secretary of defense, six months to enforce the transgender ban that Mr. Trump announced abruptly last month in a series of tweets. The directive was confirmed Wednesday by a person familiar with its contents but who was not authorized to discuss its details and spoke on the condition of anonymity. The authority has not yet been finalized. Once it is approved, it would allow Mr. Mattis to force out transgender service members by setting a legal standard of whether they would be able to deploy to war zones or for other lengthy military missions. (Hirschfeld Davis, 8/23)
Politico:
White House Said To Be Close On Transgender Military Ban
The American Military Partner Association, a group that represents LGBT military spouses, called the the new proposal a “vicious assault on transgender service members.” “Despite the overwhelming bipartisan condemnation of his reckless tweets, President Trump is still pushing forward with his vicious assault on transgender service members,” said Ashley Broadway-Mack, the group’s president. “His foolhardy assertion that transgender service members are not able to deploy is simply not rooted in fact. Transgender service members are just as deployable as any other service member.” (Dawsey and Jackson, 8/23)
