President Donald Trump announced Friday that he’s sticking to his ban on transgender people in the military, even though the Pentagon showed little enthusiasm for the proposal. Trump’s decision to keep the ban comes one month after a Washington Post report suggested that Defense Secretary Jim Mattis would urge Trump to allow transgender citizens to continue serving in the military. In late February, the U.S. military accepted its first openly transgender recruit to sign up for service since Trump’s pronouncement. A Pentagon spokesman said that the Defense Department will continue allowing transgender people in the military as ordered by the federal court, despite the Trump administration’s announcement. Speaking to the Washington Blade before Friday’s announcement, Army Maj. David Eastburn said the “DOD will still comply with federal court rulings and continue to assess and retain transgender service members.”

Source: Huffington Post March 24, 2018 01:24 UTC