Dozens hold "Resist" signs near a Times Square military recruitment center to show their anger at Trump's decision to reinstate a ban on transgender individuals from serving in the military on July 26, 2017, in New York.

Spencer Platt / Getty Images file</s>President Donald Trump is expected to announce Thursday his formal bar on the military recruitment of people who wish to live as members of the opposite sex.

The written directive implements his tweeted July decision against hiring sex-switching recruits and reinforces his earlier legal rejection of the revolutionary transgender ideology.

That ideology claims that each person’s legal sex is determined by their so-called voluntary “gender identity,” not by their actual biology.

Trump’s formal rejection of former President Barack Obama’s pro-transgender policy will help Americans preserve the nation’s myriad laws and civic practices already built around the existence of the two equal, different and complementary sexes. Those laws and practices are under assault as progressive activists and well-funded lawyers try to persuade legislators and judges to impose the transgender ideology on states, cities, schools, and on every American adult and child.

According to the Wall Street Journal:

The White House memo … directs the Pentagon to deny admittance to transgender individuals and to stop spending on medical treatment regimens for those currently serving, according to U.S. officials familiar with the document … [Defense Secretary James] Mattis under the new policy is expected to consider “deployability”—the ability to serve in a war zone, participate in exercises or live for months on a ship—as the primary legal means to decide whether to separate service members from the military, the officials said… The Pentagon’s military service chiefs hold a range of views on social issues, including on open service by gays and women in combat. But there was no push from senior leaders to re-establish the ban on transgender service members, officials have said.

The Wall Street Journal report did not say if the Pentagon would fully reverse Obama’s policy of allowing people to switch their claimed sex in military personnel records. That policy marked his official acceptance of the transgender ideology’s demand that government must force Americans to accept every person’s opposite-sex “gender identity,” even without discrete medical treatment, opposite-sex clothing, or cosmetic genital surgery.

Transgender activists are protesting Trump’s two-sexes policy by arguing that individuals who try to live as members of the other sex can also be effective soldiers. For example, a statement from the director of the pro-transgender Palm Center, Aaron Helkin focused on the individual rights of people who want to live as members of the opposite sex;

Helkin also argued that progressives agree the progressive plan would not hurt military readiness:

Former Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen and General Martin Dempsey issued statements in support of our nation’s transgender troops, and fifty-six retired Generals and Admirals concluded that banning transgender troops would ’cause significant disruptions’ and would ‘degrade readiness even more than the failed ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy.’ These distinguished military leaders are correct. Transgender troops have been serving openly in the U.S. military for more than a year, and have been widely praised by Commanders. Eighteen foreign militaries allow transgender personnel to serve, and none have reported any compromise to readiness. All available research, including scholarly publications by the RAND Corporation as well as retired General and Flag Officers, has reached the same conclusion: inclusive policy for LGBT personnel promotes readiness.

In contrast, supporters of the normal two-sexes policies say transgenderism would disrupt morale and readiness by forcing biologically-intact men and women to share bathrooms, showers and living facilities.

For example, military training slides now say that male and female soldiers must provide “dignity and respect” to opposite-sex “transgender” soldiers who enter their bathrooms and showers. However, “Transgender Soldiers are not required or expected to modify or adjust their behavior based on the fact that they do not ‘match’ other Soldiers,” according to the slides, which were first leaked by TheFederalist.com.

Also, people who wish to live as members of the opposite sex adopt often-disabling and expensive medical procedures. For example, men who wish to live as women usually take a diet of medications to reduce their natural testosterone levels, which are vital in building and repairing muscles. A person’s decision to try to switch sexes is also considered a mental condition, labeled euphemistically as “gender dysphoria.” The high cost of extra medical treatment for sex-switching soldiers has been touted as a reason to oppose Obama’s policy.

Supporters of the two-sex policy also point out that many civic institutions are being damaged by progressives legislatures and judiciaries which require Americans to accept other persons’ claims to have switched sex, even when the claimants have not undergone any cosmetic surgery. Progressives also argue that people have an intangible male or female “gender” which is not linked to their male or female biology — despite overwhelming evidence that each person’s character is shaped by their male or female body, not by a so-far undetected “gender.”

These “gender identity” claims have a growing impact on the operation of different-sex bathrooms, shelters for battered women, sports leagues for girls, hiking groups for boys, K-12 curricula, university speech codes, religious freedoms, free speech, the social status of women, parents’ rights in childrearing, practices to help teenagers, women’s expectations of beauty, culture and civic society, scientific research, prison safety, civic ceremonies, school rules, men’s sense of masculinity, law enforcement, and children’s sexual privacy.

The gender vs. two-sexes issue is being weighed by state and federal courts, and the Supreme Court is being pressured by progressives to impose their one-size-fits-all transgender ideology on the nation. Trump’s opposition to Obama’s approval for the ideology creates a major obstacle for that strategy, especially because Attorney General Jeff Sessions has also shifted Justice Department policies. Sessions has directed agency lawyers to discard Obama-era claims that the transgender ideology is supported by recent reevaluations of long-standing laws.

Polls show that roughly one-quarter of Americans support the progressive claim that biological sex is less important that chosen “gender identity,” despite intense media pressure in favor of the pro-transgender, anti-sexes campaign.

There are very few “transgender” people. For example, advocates say from 1,320 t0 11,000 people in the military are trying fully or partly to live like members of the other sex, within the military population of 1.3 million full-time soldiers, sailors, marines and air force personnel. Fewer than o.3 percent of Americans wish to live as members of the opposite sex.

Trump’s formal opposition to the transgender ideology is pushing Democrats to make their unpopular transgender ideology an issue in the 2018 elections. However, Obama has said twice that his 2016 support for the ideology helped contribute to Hillary Clinton’s defeat in the presidential election.

Trump’s support for the two sexes has been applauded by conservatives. In July, Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, applauded Trump’s policy, saying: “I do think it helps the average American to stand up and say what is obvious [and] that is refreshing … the overwhelming majority of Americans in most surveys I’ve seen do not think the federal government should be blurring the lines between the two biological sexes.”</s>On Friday, President Donald Trump signed a memorandum telling military officials to abandon any plan to allow transgender people to enlist, CNN reported.

“In my judgement, the previous administration failed to identify a significant basis to conclude that terminating the department’s long standing policy and practice would not hinder military effectiveness and lethality, disrupt unit cohesion, or tax military resources, and there remain meaningful concerns that further study is needed to ensure that continued implementation of last year’s policy change would not have those negative effects,” Trump wrote in the memorandum.

Ned Price, former senior director at the National Security Council said via email that he takes specific issue with Trump’s assertion that “more study” is needed to determine whether all Americans should be able to put their lives on the line in defense of their country.

“Those who have studied and understand this issue far better than our current commander-in-chief ever will concluded that allowing transgendered Americans to serve in our Armed Forces is consistent with military readiness and with our American values,” he said. “President Trump’s politically driven order undermines these very conclusions, which military leadership, medical personnel, U.S. service members, and an independent research institution arrived at after years of research.” He added that any further study, “if it is truly unvarnished,” will reach the same conclusion. However, it will only do so after our military will have “turned away brave and capable Americans based on a crude political calculation.”

In the memorandum, Trump also barred the Department of Defense from providing resources for medical treatment for any transgender individuals currently serving in the military by March 23, except to protect the health of someone who has already begun the process. The cost of care related to gender reassignment, Bloomberg reported, represents about 0.1% of the military’s entire health care bill.

As PRI reported, a Pentagon-commissioned study estimated the number of transgender troops to be somewhere in the ballpark of 1,320 to 6,600 people. Another UCLA study estimated that number to be much higher, putting the transgender active military population between 15,000 to 15,500.

What remains unclear under the new memorandum is if transgender troops already enlisted will be allowed to remain in the military.

“As part of the implementation plan, the Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, shall determine how to address transgender individuals currently serving in the United States military,” Trump wrote in the memorandum. “Until the Secretary has made that determination, no action may be taken against such individuals under the policy set forth in section 1(b) of this memorandum.”

These new guidelines come just weeks after Trump surprised both the American public and his own military officials when he tweeted, “After consultation with my Generals and military experts, 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.” Trump added, “Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail.”

In a statement provided to Mic via email, Jennifer Levi, GLAD Transgender Rights Project director, said, “This policy is a shameful slap in the face to people who put their lives on the line everyday to defend our country.” Levi added that this “unprecedented policy amounts to a purge of qualified, contributing troops, and will serve only to undermine unit cohesion and weaken military readiness.” In the statement, GLAD also noted it filed the federal lawsuit Doe v. Trump on Aug. 9, on behalf of 5 transgender service members with nearly 60 years of combined military service.</s>Rights activists decry Trump's reversal of Obama-era decision to allow trans people to openly serve in the US military.

President Donald Trump has signed a memorandum that directs the US military to not accept transgender individuals as recruits and halts the use of government funds for sex-reassignment surgeries for active personnel unless the process is already underway.

The memo, released by the White House on Friday, laid out in more detail a ban on transgender individuals serving in the US armed forces that Trump announced via Twitter last month.

The announcement reversed a policy shift started under his predecessor, President Barack Obama.

In the memorandum, Trump directed the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security to stop using government funds for sex-reassignment procedures unless it is necessary "to protect the health of an individual who has already begun a course of treatment to reassign his or her sex".

The order requires Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis to determine in the coming months how to handle transgender individuals currently serving in the military using criteria including "military effectiveness and lethality," budget constraints and law.

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A White House official who briefed reporters about the memo declined to specify whether transgender individuals who are currently active in the military could continue to serve based on such criteria.

The official said Trump decided the Obama administration had not identified a sufficient basis for changing what was then long-standing policy on transgender troops.

The memo called on Mattis to submit his plan on how to implement the changes by February 21 of next year.

'Nothing less than a purge'

Trump's decision appealed to some in his conservative political base while creating uncertainty for thousands of transgender service members, many of whom came out after the Pentagon said in 2016 it would allow transgender people to serve openly.

According to the National Centre for Transgender Equality, there are about 15,000 transgender people currently serving in the US military.

The change drew swift criticism from advocates of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights.

"The President's order to remove transgender service members from the United States armed forces and deny them healthcare is nothing less than a purge," Matt Thorn, executive director of OutServe-SLDN, a group dedicated to LGBT equality in the military, said in a statement.

Jennifer Levi, an official at the gay rights group GLAD (GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, said that the US military "is strongest when all people who are fit to serve have the opportunity to do so".

"This unprecedented policy amounts to a purge of qualified, contributing troops, and will serve only to undermine unit cohesion and weaken military readiness."

Others online, including Chelsea Manning, a transgender army private who was jailed for one of the largest leaks of classified documents in US history, also criticised Trump's move, calling it a "shameful" and "hateful".</s>Transgender members of the U.S. military would be subject to removal at Defense Secretary James Mattis' discretion — and the service would bar transgender people from enlisting, under new White House guidelines for the Pentagon. President Trump announced the ban via a tweet last month.

Rough details of the guidelines were confirmed by NPR's Tom Bowman after the White House plan for the Pentagon was reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Gay and lesbian troops have been able to serve openly in the U.S. military since 2011; transgender service members were allowed to do the same in 2016, through an order from Defense Secretary Ash Carter. That order deferred setting policy on new enlistments.

The Obama administration had set a deadline of July 1, 2017, for the U.S. military to decide how to handle transgender recruits. But as NPR's Phil Ewing has reported, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis put off that deadline in June.

Mattis hasn't spoken much about the plan, and it's not known how rigorously he would enforce a policy on transgender troops. Tom reports, "The big issue for Mattis is service. If you're in the military, people who know him say, he'll give a lot of leeway for keeping transgender people in — unless there's some huge medical issue that prevents deployability."

On July 26, Trump stated in a series of tweets that the U.S. would not allow transgender people "to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military."

The president added, "Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail."

As for the scope of the issue, Tom says that the question of transgender service members hasn't been a hot topic in America's military. It doesn't approach the scale, for instance, of the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy that once governed how lesbians and gays should be treated in the service, Tom reported on Morning Edition on Thursday.

"One officer I spoke with yesterday estimated 1,000 transgender folks in the military, of more than 2 million," Tom said. "Advocates say the number could be up to 15,000."

An estimate by the Rand Corp. suggested there could be as many as 6,300 transgender troops on active duty.

When President Trump spoke about the issue two weeks ago during a briefing at his golf club in New Jersey, here's what he said:



"Look, I have great respect for the community. I think I have great support — or I've had great support from that community. I got a lot of votes. But the transgender — the military is working on it now. They're doing the work. It's been a very difficult situation. And I think I'm doing a lot of people a favor by coming out and just saying it. As you know, it's been a very complicated issue for the military. It's been a very confusing issue for the military. And I think I'm doing the military a great favor."</s>Trump Signs Memo Implementing Ban On Transgender People Enlisting In The Military

President Trump has signed a memo implementing his new policy on transgender people serving in the armed forces.

A senior White House official told reporters that no transgender individuals will be allowed to join the armed services unless and until the secretary of defense and secretary of homeland security recommend otherwise.

The Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps are part of the Department of Defense. The Coast Guard, also covered by the new policy, is part of the Department of Homeland Security.

The memo halts use of all Defense and Homeland Security resources for sex change surgery for those now serving. The only exception is for transgender service members already in treatment. This will become effective March 23, 2018, to give time for officials to develop an implementation policy.

The change in policy that would have allowed transgender people to join the military had been announced by former Secretary of Defense Ash Carter but never implemented, unlike the policy change that allowed current transgender military personnel to serve openly.

The policy prohibiting transgender individuals serving in the military is restored by the memo. For transgender service members already serving, the memo directs the departments of Defense and Homeland Security to determine what to do with them based on how their continued service affects military effectiveness, lethality, resources and unit cohesion.

The memo calls for an implementation plan to be submitted to the president by March 23, 2018.</s>Active-duty transgender troops say a policy change that puts them at risk of being removed and indefinitely bars transgender people from enlisting in the military is a step backward for civil rights that will promote inequality in the armed forces.

President Donald Trump on Friday directed the Pentagon to extend a ban on transgender individuals joining the military but gave the Pentagon the authority to decide the future of openly transgender people already serving. Trump appeared to leave open the possibility of allowing some transgender people who already are in uniform.

The guidance from the White House contradicts Trump's words, Army Capt. Jennifer Sims said, pointing out that he just praised the military for its tolerance when he told veterans in Nevada on Wednesday that those in uniform come from all walks of life and are united by shared values and a shared sense of duty.

Days earlier, Trump, speaking to thousands of soldiers at the Army's Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, in Arlington, Virginia, denounced prejudice, bigotry and hate in the wake of violence that erupted at a rally organized by white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia.

"It's going to create this situation where there is a complete inequality in how transgender troops are treated," said Sims, 28, who is based in Germany and is taking pills to prepare for her transition surgery.

That is not the military's problem, said Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness, which has opposed allowing transgender people to serve.

"The armed forces are not just another equal opportunity employer," Donnelly said in a statement.

The military's limited funds, she added, should not be used "to indulge transgender demands."

Transgender people have been allowed to serve openly in the military since June 2016. Trump, in a series of tweets on July 26, announced that he planned to end that policy.

The government "will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. military," he tweeted, contending that their service entailed "tremendous medical costs and disruption."

A 2016 study by the RAND Corp. estimated it would cost the military $2.4 million to $8.4 million a year to provide gender transition-related coverage, an increase of 0.04 percent to 0.13 percent in health care spending for active-duty members. Researchers estimated 29 to 129 active-duty service members annually would seek such treatment.

Meanwhile, it would cost hundreds of millions of dollars to discharge thousands of transgender personnel, according to a study released this month by the Palm Center, an independent research institute.

The new guidance, as described by an official familiar with its contents but not authorized by the White House to discuss it publicly, appears to be less rigid than the complete ban that Trump tweeted about.

The official said the guidance puts a stop to recruitment of transgender individuals and prohibits the use of federal funds to pay for sexual reassignment surgery, except in cases where it's deemed necessary to protect the health of an individual who has already begun the transition. But it would give Defense Secretary Jim Mattis six months to determine circumstances in which those currently in uniform who are openly transgender might be permitted to continue serving.

Jennifer Levi, an attorney with the LGBT-rights group GLAD, said that current policy "requires equal treatment of transgender service members, including that they are subject to the same standards of deployment as other soldiers."

GLAD and another LGBT-rights organization this month sued in U.S. District Court in Washington on behalf of five transgender service members with nearly 60 years of combined military service. They had hoped to get a swift court decision on Trump's tweet that could prevent a ban from taking effect.

"Any special or different rule for transgender soldiers is discrimination, plain and simple," she said. "It also harms the military and, ultimately, the safety of our nation."

Trump has argued that the military should not pay for medical care for transgender service members to transition to another gender, and that the process means they cannot be deployed, harming the readiness of the armed forces.

Service members say that is not true.

According to the policy adopted under the Obama administration, commanders have the discretion to decide when to allow transgender troops to start their treatment to transition to a different gender to ensure that it does not disrupt operations. Commanders can also decide whether a person undergoing treatment is still fit to be deployed.

Army Capt. Jennifer Peace, a transgender woman based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state, said that she deployed to Afghanistan in 2012 while transitioning, and that there are other transgender troops serving there now.

"Being transgender had had absolutely no impact on my fitness for duty," Peace said, adding that "there should be no transgender standard — there should be an Army standard. If I can make the Army standard, I should be able to serve."

Many health reasons can delay deployment, including pregnancy, knee or gall bladder operations, and laser eye surgery. Soldiers may also reschedule their treatments if they see it could have a negative effect on their unit.

If the military won't pay for their medical care, many transgender troops say, they will find a way to cover the costs.

Navy Lt. Cmdr. Blake Dremann, who is president of SPARTA, a trans advocacy group, said he is telling concerned service members to wait for any legal challenges to play out and "continue to succeed, show them we're not an issue."

"Which we haven't been, so I don't understand," said Dremann, 36.

Air Force Staff Sgt. Ashlee Bruce, 26, who works at Buckley Air Force base in Aurora, Colorado, and plans to start medical treatment next month to transition, plans to speak out but won't go to court after taking an oath to respect the commander in chief's orders.

"I want to stay in the military as long as they will have me," Bruce said. "I love what I do. I think we make a positive impact day in and day out protecting our country and defending our way of life."</s>WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Friday stopped funding for sex-reassignment treatment for transgender people currently in the military and barred the Pentagon from accepting any more transgender people into the services.

The president signed a memo giving new guidance to his previously-tweeted ban on transgender individuals serving in the U.S. military, according to a senior White House official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.

Trump signed the memo, the details of which were first reported by The Wall Street Journal, on Friday and directed the departments of Defense and Homeland Security to stop funding of sex-reassignment procedures and deny entry of transgender individuals into the military.

Openly transgender individuals will be barred until the Secretary of Defense "provides a recommendation to the contrary that I find convincing," Trump's memo reads.

The Trump administration official was unable to answer questions about whether the estimated thousands of transgender service members currently serving would be allowed to remain in the military.

The administration's guidance gives Defense Secretary James Mattis some leeway when considering whether individual transgender service members would be allowed to continue to serve. The defense secretary would be able to consider military effectiveness, unit cohesion, budget restraints and other factors, the administration official said.

The Pentagon and Department of Defense have six months to develop an implementation plan.

Asked if at the end of the six-month period it would be possible that transgender people already serving will continue, the official said the administration didn't have "anything to say beyond the policy enunciated in the memo."

Trump first articulated his unexpected and abrupt policy change about transgender service members in a series of tweets last month, saying:

"After consultation with my Generals and military experts, 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. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming...victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Thank you."

Trump campaigned as a friend to the LGBTQ community, even praising the audience at the Republican National Convention last summer when they cheered his mention of the group. But even after the president's decision to bar transgender people from the military — a policy blasted by LGBTQ groups — the White House is still defending Trump's credentials as a friend to the community.

"The president is a president for all Americans," the senior administration official said Friday.

The basis for the Friday directive, the official added, is "national security concerns."</s>The White House will soon issue guidance to the Pentagon on how it should proceed with implementing President Donald Trump's ban on transgender Americans serving in the military, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

According to the news outlet, the White House is expected to send the guidance in the coming days, which would mark the first official instruction from the White House on how the United States military is supposed to act on Trump's announcement on Twitter last month that openly serving transgender troops would no longer be allowed to serve in the armed forces.

Trump's tweet signaled a reversal from an Obama-era policy enacted last year that lifted the ban on openly serving transgender troops and would have made the U.S. government responsible for covering gender reassignment treatment and procedures deemed medically necessary for transgender service members.

Sources familiar with the two-and-a-half-page guidance told WSJ that the docuement "directs the Pentagon to deny admittance to transgender individuals" and "stop spending on medical treatment regimens for those currently serving."

Additionally, the sources explained that the memo informs Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis that the ban is to be fully implemented in six months.

Trump announced the plan to ban transgender military service members as social conservative advocacy groups called for an end to the Obama-era transgender troop policy, suggesting that the policy weakens military readiness and creates privacy issues.

But after Trump tweeted his vow to ban transgender individuals from the military, LGBT activists and supporters were quick to voice their criticism of the transgender ban.

"Transgender people are just as deployable as other service members," Sue Fulton, an LGBT activist and former president of the LGBT military organization Sparta, told the outlet. "Other service members may undergo procedures when they are at home base, just as other service members schedule shoulder surgery or gall bladder surgery."

A Change.org petition calling on Trump to allow transgender individuals to serve in the military has amassed more than 225,000 supporters.

"This is extremely disgraceful and an insult to all those who have already given their lives for this country. This is not equality, and this is not 'supporting the LGBT community,' as he said he does. This is utterly transphobic," the petition reads. "Many people who served are going to be left jobless, and many others will no longer be able to fulfill their dreams. This is not okay, and this should not be legal. Trans people are still people."

Earlier this month, Trump defended his vow to ban transgender individuals from military service, saying during a news conference at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., that he was doing a "great favor" for the military.

"And I think I'm doing a lot of people a favor by just coming out and saying it. As you know, it has been a very complicated issue for the military," the president said. "It's been a very confusing issue for the military and I think I am doing the military a great favor."

Following Trump's tweet, a group of retired flag-rank military officers that included Family Research Council Executive Vice President Jerry Boykin sent Trump a letter, expressing their gratitude and argued that the Obama-era policy would have been costly.

"Even if it can be scientifically demonstrated that gender reassignment procedures medically benefit some individuals, there will still be concerns about the deployability of these individuals," the letter reads. "DoD guidelines require that those serving in the military be 'medically adaptable to the military environment without the necessity of geographic area limitations.' However, both hormone therapy and gender reassignment surgery result in the need for specialized medical care which will not be available in all geographic locations."

"Aside from the time lost due to the non-deployability of the person transitioning, one must also consider the time taken away from commanding officers for transgender case management. The detailed assessment and management of these complex cases by commanders would have been substantial," the letter continues. "Needless to say, that is time not being spent training or thinking about how to engage and defeat our enemies in combat. The shifting of CO time would have been a real detriment to military effectiveness."</s>Active-duty transgender troops say a policy change that puts them at risk of being removed and indefinitely bars transgender people from enlisting in the military is a step backward for civil rights that will promote inequality in the armed forces.

President Donald Trump on Friday directed the Pentagon to extend a ban on transgender individuals joining the military but gave Defense Secretary Jim Mattis authority to decide the future of openly transgender people already serving.

This comes only days after Trump praised the military for its tolerance.

Trump says the military shouldn't pay for medical care for transgender troops. He says the process means they cannot be deployed, harming military readiness.

Transgender troops say many health reasons, including pregnancy and knee surgery, can also delay deployments.
President Donald Trump issues a presidential memorandum that stops funding of sex reassignment procedures for military personnel, and that denies entry of transgender individuals into the military. President Trump announced this policy change via Twitter in late July. Two LGBT rights organizations filed a federal lawsuit two weeks ago arguing this policy change is unconstitutional because it denies transgender service members equal protection and due process.