In a reversal of yet another policy initiative of his predecessor Barak Obama, President Donald Trump has reinstated the ban on recruiting transgender people into US armed forces.
While banning new recruitment of transgender individuals, Trump has left it to Defence Secretary Jim Mattis to decide whether to retain existing recruits belonging to this group.
“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,” Trump tweeted on Friday.
Justifying his action, Trump accused the Obama administration of having “failed to identify a sufficient basis to conclude that terminating the Departments’ longstanding policy and practice would not hinder military effectiveness and lethality, disrupt unit cohesion, or tax military resources”.
“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 noted in a presidential memorandum, addressed to Defence Secretary James Mattis and the Homeland Security Security in respect of US Coast Guard.
Democrats and transgender rights activists lost little time to slam Trump’s action. As House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi put it, “Prejudice, not the national defence, is behind President Trump’s cruel decision to kick transgender troops out of the military.”
“This policy is a shameful slap in the face to people who put their lives on the line every day to defend our country,” said Jennifer levi from GlAD (GlBTQ legal Advocates & Defenders). “We are moving quickly with our plaintiffs to see that a court puts a stop to this latest demonstration of President Trump playing politics with people’s lives,” she said in a statement.
Trump attracted criticism from within his own Republican Party as well, with Senator John McCain, who heads the Senate Armed Services Committee, commenting: “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.”
In his memorandum, Trump also directed the Pentagon not to provide medical treatment for sex-reassignment surgeries. “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,” he tweeted.
The longstanding policy barring military service by transgender individuals was lifted by President Obama. The number of such individuals in the US military is put at a few hundred.
As for transgender people currently serving, Trump asked Mattis and the Homeland Security Secretary to determine how to deal with the issue “based on military effectiveness and lethality, unitary cohesion, budgetary constraints, applicable law, and all factors that may be relevant”.