White House to issue guidance on transgender military ban

The White House will send guidance to the Pentagon on President Donald Trump’s transgender military ban — including instructions to reject transgender applicants — “in coming days,” The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday night, citing unnamed US officials familiar with the matter.

Among the memo’s directions: The military is to stop admitting transgender people; and for current transgender troops, the Pentagon should consider a service member’s ability to deploy when determining whether to expel them, the newspaper reported, citing the officials.

The memo also instructs the Pentagon to stop paying for transgender troops’ medical treatment regimens, the officials told the paper.

It is not clear if the memo is finalized. The Pentagon said in a statement Wednesday night that it “has not received formal guidance from the White House as a follow-up to the Commander-in-Chief’s announcement on military service by transgender personnel.”
“The (Defense) Department continues to focus on our mission of defending our nation and ongoing operations against our foes, while ensuring all service members are treated with respect,” the statement read.

The Pentagon said it would provide an update when the formal guidance is announced.
CNN reached out to the White House for comment Wednesday.
Trump said he would reinstate a ban on transgender troops in a string of tweets July 26, announcing that transgender individuals would not be eligible to “serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military.”

That reversed a policy, initially approved by the Defense Department under President Barack Obama and still under final review, that would have allowed transgender individuals to openly serve in the military.

Following Trump’s announcement, Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told service members there would be “no modifications to the current policy until the President’s direction has been received by the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary has issued implementation guidelines.”

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California, responded to The Wall Street Journal’s report with a tweet Wednesday night: “This is NOT how you keep America safe. Period. #ProtectTransTroops.”

Also on Wednesday, CNN first reported that MTV was reaching out to transgender military members, inviting them to attend Sunday’s MTV Video Music Awards, according to a US defense official.

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