This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would not allow transgender individuals to serve in the US military in any capacity, reversing a policy put in place by Barack Obama a year ago.

The US president 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 US military.”

He 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.”

Transgender Americans fear for safety after Trump win: 'We are traumatized' Read more

Later, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, was not able to say if the thousands of currently serving transgender people would be thrown out of the military. She said: “That’s something that the department of defense and the White House will have to work [on] together, as implementation takes place and is done so lawfully.”

Trump’s decision marks a sharp reversal of a policy initiated under Obama in 2016, in which the Pentagon ended a longtime ban on trans people serving openly in the military.

Huckabee Sanders denied that Trump was breaking his campaign promise to protect the LGBTQ community. “The president has a lot of support for all Americans and certainly wants to protect all Americans at all times,” she said. “The president’s expressed concern since this Obama policy came into effect, but he’s also voiced that this is a very expensive and disruptive policy and, based on consultation that he’s had with his national security team, came to the conclusion that it erodes military readiness and unit cohesion, and made the decision based on that.”

Unusually, the new press secretary threatened to end the briefing if questions on the topic continued. “If those are the only questions we have, I’m gonna call it a day, but if we have questions on other topics, I’ll be happy to take them.”

The next question was about cabinet morale, but then a reporter returned to the issue of transgender people in the military. The briefing ended two minutes later.

The Pentagon appeared to be caught off guard by Trump’s announcement, and deferred to the White House when reached for comment.



“We will continue to work closely with the White House to address the new guidance provided by the commander-in-chief on trans individuals serving the military,” a spokesperson for the defense department said. “We will provide revised guidance to the department in the near future.”

Under Obama, then defense secretary Ashton Carter announced on 30 June 2016 that any trans person already in the armed forces could serve openly “effective immediately”.



Backlash to Trump’s decision was swift, and transcended party lines.

Carter told the Guardian: “What matters in choosing those who serve is that they are best qualified.

“To choose service members on other grounds than military qualifications is social policy and has no place in our military. There are already transgender individuals who are serving capably and honorably. This action would also send the wrong signal to a younger generation thinking about military service.”

Arizona senator John McCain, who chairs the Senate armed services committee, said: “The president’s tweet this morning is yet another example of why major policy announcements should not be made via Twitter.”

He added: “Any American who meets current medical and readiness standards should be allowed to continue serving. 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.”

Several studies had already found that reversing the ban was unlikely to have a negative impact on the military.

A 2016 study by the Rand Corporation estimated there are up to 6,630 trans people on active duty and up to 4,160 in the select reserve. There are roughly 1.4 million active-duty US service members.

The same study estimated that medical care for individuals who transition would cost roughly $2.4-$4m annually. Every year, the Pentagon spends approximately $6bn on medical care for active members of the armed forces.

Trump’s decision comes after the Pentagon recently delayed a deadline set by the Obama administration of 1 July 2017 to decide whether incoming recruits who openly identified as trans could enlist.

Last month, defense secretary James Mattis outlined the six-month delay on trans recruitment in an internal memo, in which he wrote: “We will use this additional time to evaluate more carefully the impact of such accessions on readiness and lethality.”

The delay was negotiated after the chiefs of the army, navy, air force and marine corps requested more time to prepare for the recruitment of transgender service members. Reports have suggested the joint chiefs asked for an additional six months, while others wanted another two years. But there was no public indication that the joint chiefs were seeking an outright ban.

Mattis was on vacation at the time of Trump’s announcement, signaling a lack of coordination between the White House and the relevant agencies.

This disgusting ban will weaken our military and the nation it defends Nancy Pelosi, House minority leader

An administration official fueled speculation over the president’s motives by suggesting that the shift was a political ploy that would force Democrats facing re-election in states won by Trump into complex culture wars.

As a candidate, Trump cast himself as a supporter of LGBT rights and indicated he would uphold certain Obama-era policies designed to protect transgender people. But upon taking office, he rescinded his predecessor’s guidance requiring public schools to allow transgender students to use the bathroom of their choice.

The president lifted the guidance in February, despite saying during his campaign that trans people should use “whatever bathroom they feel is appropriate”.

Trump’s decision on Wednesday came on the anniversary of Harry Truman’s 1948 executive order desegregating the US military.

Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, condemned Trump for “a cruel and arbitrary decision designed to humiliate transgender Americans who stepped forward to serve our country”.

Illinois senator Tammy Duckworth, who lost both her legs on duty in Iraq, also chastised Trump. “When my Black Hawk helicopter was shot down in Iraq, I didn’t care if the American troops risking their lives to help save me were gay, straight, transgender or anything else. All that mattered was they didn’t leave me behind.”

Earlier this month, the House of Representatives voted down a measure that would have restricted funding for trans members of the military. The amendment would have prevented the defense department from providing medical treatment “related to gender transition” to service members, with an exception for mental health treatment.

Although the measure passed a House committee on a party line vote, it failed on the House floor on a 209-214 vote. Twenty-four Republicans banded together with Democrats to kill the proposal.

The author of the proposal, Vicky Hartzler of Missouri, celebrated Trump’s decision on Wednesday. “I’m glad to hear the president will be changing this costly and damaging policy,” she said. “Military service is a privilege, not a right.”