7/27/2017 Defense chiefs resist Donald Trump's ban on transgender troops | US news | The Guardian

Defense chiefs resist Donald Trump's

ban on transgender troops
US military will continue to permit transgender individuals to
serve openly until Defense Secretary Jim Mattis receives Trumps
direction to change policy

Associated Press
Thursday 27 July 2017 17.37 BST

US defense chiefs have pushed back against Donald Trumps

attempt to ban transgender people from serving in the military,
saying the policy would not be overturned until they received
formal direction to do so.
In a rebuke to Trumps attempt to run the government and
military via Twitter, Gen Joseph Dunford, Americas top military
officer, said on Thursday that the armed forces would continue to
permit transgender people to serve openly until the defense
secretary, Jim Mattis, has received Trumps direction to change
the policy and figured out how to implement it.

Trans healthcare
In a memo to all military service chiefs,
costs are actually a commanders and enlisted military leaders,
tiny proportion of Dunford, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff,
the US military said there will be no modifications to
budget current policy for now, amid questions about
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Trumps announcement on Twitter that the

Read more
US government will not accept or allow
transgender people to serve in any capacity in
the military.
I know there are questions about yesterdays announcement,
Dunford began, adding that nothing would change until the
presidents direction has been received by Mattis and Mattis has
issued implementation guidance.
In the meantime, we will continue to treat all of our personnel
with respect, Dunford wrote. As importantly, given the current
fight and the challenges we face, we will all remain focused on
accomplishing our assigned missions.

Were better than this: reaction to Trumps transgender military ban

The Dunford statement suggests that Mattis was given no

presidential direction on changing the transgender policy. Mattis
has been on vacation this week and has been publicly silent amid
questions about Trumps announced ban. His spokesmen declined
to comment on Thursday. On Wednesday, they said the Pentagon
would work with the White House and provide revised guidance
to the military in the near future.
Dunford himself was not aware that Trump was going to
announce the ban, a US official said. The official was not
authorized to discuss the matter and so spoke on condition of
anonymity.
Trumps announcement caught the Pentagon flat-footed and
unable to explain what it called Trumps guidance.

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Please be advised that the United States Government will not

accept or allow Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in
the U.S. Military, the commander in chief tweeted.
Trump wrote that he had consulted with my generals and
military experts, but he did not mention Mattis, the retired
Marine general who recently told the service chiefs to spend
another six months weighing the costs and benefits of allowing
transgender individuals to enlist. At the time, Mattis said this
does not presuppose the outcome of the review, but Trumps
tweets appeared to have done just that.
The Pentagon has not released data on the number of transgender
people currently serving. A Rand Corporation study has estimated
the number at between 1,320 and 6,630 out of 1.3 million active-
duty troops.
Criticism for Trumps action was immediate and strong from both
political parties.
John McCain, the Arizona Republican and Vietnam war hero, said
Trump was simply wrong.
Any American who meets current medical and readiness
standards should be allowed to continue serving, he said. There
is no reason to force service members who are able to fight, train
and deploy to leave the military regardless of their gender
identity.
Not everyone at the Capitol agreed.
Duncan Hunter, a member of the House armed services
committee, said: Its about time that a decision is made to restore
the warrior culture and allow the US military to get back to
business.
Transgender people already in uniform were concerned about
what comes next.
Everybody is hurt, everybody is scared, said Rudy Akbarian, 26,
who is in the military but did not want to identify his branch.
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Trumps sudden declaration appears to halt a decades-long trend

toward more inclusive policies on military service, including the
repeal in 2010 of a ban on gays serving openly. Bill Clinton began
the push to allow gay people to serve in 1993. In December 2015,
Barack Obamas Pentagon chief, Ash Carter, announced that all
military positions would be open to women. Liberalizing policy on
transgender troops was the next step.
Just last week, when asked about the transgender issue at a
Senate hearing, Gen Paul Selva, vice-chairman of the joint chiefs
of staff, said: I am an advocate of every qualified person who can
meet the physical standards to serve in our uniformed services to
be able to do so.
Transgender service members have been able to serve openly
since 2016, when Carter ended the ban. Since 1 October,
transgender troops could receive medical care and start changing
their gender identifications in the Pentagons personnel system.
Carter also gave the services until 1 July to develop policies to
allow people already identifying as transgender to join the military
if they meet normal standards and have been stable in their
identified genders for 18 months.
On 30 June, Mattis extended the 1 July deadline to 1 January
2018, saying the services should study the impact on the
readiness and lethality of our forces.
The White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said
Trump had made a military decision. She said it was his
judgment that allowing transgender service erodes military
readiness and unit cohesion.
Sanders said the presidents national security team was part of
this consultation and that Trump informed Mattis of his
decision immediately after he made it on Tuesday.
Asked if Trump was aware that he cannot make policy changes via
Twitter, Huckabee Sanders replied: I think he was making the
announcement of the policy change. Like I said, they are going to
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have to work out the details on how that moves forward to

lawfully implement that policy change from this point.

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