White House announces formal ban on transgender people serving in the military, following up on Trump’s controversial policy pledge

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

After Donald Trump’s order late on Friday supporting a ban on transgender troops except under “limited circumstances”, gender rights groups said they would “vigorously defend” existing legal injunctions on the implementation of the exclusionary measures.

White House announces ban on transgender people serving in military Read more

Jennifer Levi, the Glad transgender rights project director, told the Guardian: “It’s extremely disappointing to see these gross misstatements about transgender people’s ability to serve, particularly given the thousands of people who have been serving for decades, including in high positions of responsibility.”

On Friday, the White House said retaining troops with a history or diagnosis of “gender dysphoria” – wanting to transition gender – “presents considerable risk to military effectiveness and lethality”.

The ban, a modification of Trump’s full ban issued last summer in a tweet, disqualifies US troops who have had gender reassignment surgery.

But it allows current transgender service members who have not undergone reassignment surgery to remain, as long as they have been medically stable for 36 consecutive months in their biological sex before joining the military and as long as they are able to deploy across the world.

The defense secretary, Jim Mattis, also recommended that anyone diagnosed with gender dysphoria since the Obama administration ended the Pentagon’s longtime ban on transgender service in 2016 may continue to serve.

However, enlisted men and women who have not already been approved to transition gender would still face exclusion.

In a memo released on Friday, Mattis argued that “men and women who serve voluntarily accept limitations on their personal liberties – freedom of speech, political activity, freedom of movement – in order to provide the military lethality and readiness necessary to ensure American citizens enjoy their personal freedoms to the fullest extent.”

At least four cases challenging the ban are working their way through the courts. Glad’s Levi said the Trump administration’s order would not affect the group’s legal strategy to block the ban through the courts from moving forward.

She said: “We knew that this implementation plan was going to be announced, and we will continue to defend the cases. It’s the same ban we’ve been challenging and we will continue to challenge.”

Other rights groups also condemned the policy, which reverses Obama’s 2016 order.

“What the White House has released tonight is transphobia masquerading as policy. This policy is not based on an evaluation of new evidence,” Joshua Block, a senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union’s LGBT and HIV Project, said in a statement.

“It is reverse-engineered for the sole purpose of carrying out Trump’s reckless and unconstitutional ban, undermining the ability of transgender service members to serve openly and military readiness as a whole.”

Other groups, including the American Military Partner Association, also criticized the measures.

“This administration chose to announce this policy late on a Friday night, under cover of darkness, because they are embarrassed by it, and they should be,” David Stacy, director of government affairs at the Human Rights Campaign, told the Military Times.

“We have 15,000 or more transgender troops and their families who are going to wake up tomorrow with their lives in chaos.”

Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, said: “This latest memorandum is the same cowardly, disgusting ban the president announced last summer. No one with the strength and bravery to serve in the US military should be turned away because of who they are.”

Bu the policy changes have divided active-duty troops. According to a Military Times poll, 53% said they supported Trump’s comments last summer stating the military should not “accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity” because the services “cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption”.

More than one in three troops surveyed – 38% – said they strongly approve of Trump’s stance. But 35% of troops surveyed disapproved of the comments, 24% strongly.