There had been a lot of apprehension over President Donald Trump’s stand on transgender officers serving within the US military. But this seems to have been resolved with Trump’s Friday directives to the Pentagon that transgender folks should not be recruited into the armed forces; while the fate of transgender officers already serving is in the hands of military officers.
In a July 26 tweet, Trump had declared that his government would never recruit or allow transgender persons to serve in any capacity within the US military. This he tweeted was because of the tremendous medical costs that gender transitions would pose to military coffers, and the disruptions transition treatments would cause for military units.
Defense and Homeland Security have six months to act on Trump’s order
Former President Obama’s government allowed transgenders to be recruited into the military and to under sex changes billable to the government. But that might no longer be the case under President Donald Trump who has ordered the US Secretary Of Defense, Jim Mattis, to study newer directives for the next six months before deciding on recruiting transgenders.
According to Trump’s latest directive to Mattis, the Pentagon will not allow the recruitment of transgenders into the military for the next six months until both the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security provide a recommendation to the contrary. Also, as from March 23, 2018, transgenders will not be allowed to serve openly in the military or to undergo sex-change treatments at the expense of the government except to the extent necessary for the secure health of the person who has already initiated sex-change treatments.
A slew of legal actions await the president over military transgender ban
But LGBT advocacy groups and the American Civil Liberties Union will have none of this. “We’ll see you in court,” they tweeted back in reply to Trump.
Meanwhile, LGBT-rights group GLAD, filed litigation against the government earlier this month at the US District Court in Washington.
The action was on behalf of five transgender military officers with a combined 60 years military service.
“Any special or different rule for transgender soldiers is discrimination, plain and simple,” said Jennifer Levi, an attorney with GLAD. “It also harms the military and, ultimately, the safety of our nation.”
Several other LGBT advocacy groups seem to be biding their time for legal actions in court, with a slew of litigation being primed for when Trump will act on Mattis final recommendations next year.
