Trump to decide Friday on new policy for transgender troops, likely limiting their service

Tom Vanden Brook | USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — A new policy on transgender troops is slated to go into effect Friday after months of consideration and court challenges, and it likely will restrict their service.

In August, President Trump sent Defense Secretary Jim Mattis a memo ordering him to propose changes to the Obama-era policy that allows transgender troops to serve openly and receive medical treatment, including sexual reassignment surgery.

Mattis made his recommendation on transgender service to the White House in February. If Trump does not accept it, the Pentagon will revert to its pre-2016 practice that effectively banned transgender troops from service on medical grounds, according to the memo.

Mattis, since taking charge at the Pentagon, has emphasized the readiness of troops to deploy and fight. In February, the Pentagon established a policy that dismisses troops if they cannot deploy for a period of one year. Presumably, that principle could affect transgender troops who require medical care that could not be provided in a war zone.

Trump upended the policy on transgender military service in July. He announced, via Twitter, that transgender troops were no longer welcome in the military, and that the government would no longer pay for their surgeries.

Trump's twitter announcement was not coordinated with the Pentagon, and leaders there scrambled to reassure transgender troops that they would not be kicked out and that there medical care would not be interrupted.

Federal courts have ruled that the Pentagon must allow transgender troops to volunteer for service. Several transgender recruits have signed up since becoming eligible Jan. 1.

A RAND Corp. study commissioned by the Pentagon in 2016 found that there could be several thousand transgender troops among the active-duty force of one million. The report determined that their medical treatment would have a minimal impact on military readiness.

The current policy for transgender troops was established in 2016 by then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter. It allows transgender service members to serve openly, seek medical attention and allowed for recruits who have been stable in their gender for 18 months to join the military.



