A federal court in Washington has blocked President Trump’s directive that prohibited transgender people from serving in the U.S. military, a significant setback to the White House, although it continued to block use of federal funds for gender reassignment surgery for military personnel. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly’s ruling Monday restored the Obama-era policy allowing transgender troops to openly serve in the armed services. The ruling comes three months after Trump first used social media to declare them banned from military service. Transgender troops could serve openly and individuals were to be allowed to openly enlist for the first time in the military by Jan. 1, 2018. The Pentagon was blindsided in July when Trump abruptly declared on Twitter that the military would not "accept or allow" transgender troops to serve "in any capacity."

Source: Los Angeles Times October 30, 2017 20:37 UTC