In the meantime, policy regarding transgender service members will remain in place, Mattis said, meaning that those serving can continue to do so. On Friday evening, the White House announced that it was moving forward with Trump’s transgender ban as Hurricane Harvey roared toward Texas. The memorandum gave Mattis until Feb. 1 to present a plan to Trump on how to implement the transgender ban, and what to do with transgender service members already serving. Mattis left the door open to some transgender service members continuing to serve during an exchange with reporters at the Pentagon this month. The defense secretary, asked Aug. 14 if current service members would be ousted, pointed to Dunford’s directive.

Source: Washington Post August 30, 2017 01:38 UTC