US military will continue to permit transgender individuals to serve openly until Defense Secretary Jim Mattis receives Trump’s ‘direction’ to change policyUS defense chiefs have pushed back against Donald Trump’s attempt to ban transgender people from serving in the military, saying the policy would not be overturned until they received formal direction to do so. Mattis has been on vacation this week and has been publicly silent amid questions about Trump’s announced ban. Trump’s sudden declaration appears to halt a decades-long trend toward more inclusive policies on military service, including the repeal in 2010 of a ban on gays serving openly. Since 1 October, transgender troops could receive medical care and start changing their gender identifications in the Pentagon’s personnel system. She said it was his judgment that allowing transgender service “erodes military readiness and unit cohesion”.

Source: The Guardian July 27, 2017 16:37 UTC