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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The US Defense Department on Tuesday signed a memo aimed at imposing restrictions on transgender people serving in the military, a policy that has been the subject of court challenges.
Nicholas Bade, 37, among transgender Americans who, this month, can openly engage in the US military for the first time after the courts have blocked President Donald Trump's efforts to reinstate the ban on transgender service members, poses in front of a recruiting center in Chicago, IL, USA, January 4, 2018. REUTERS / Chris Kenning
The policy will come into effect on April 12 and will prohibit most transgender people from serving if they need hormone treatment or transitional surgery.
The memo, signed by David Norquist, currently Pentagon Leader No. 2, will allow service secretaries to issue waivers on a case-by-case basis.
President Donald Trump announced in July 2017 the ban on transgender people from serving in the military. He then accepted the Pentagon's recommendations to limit the ban to people with a history of gender dysphoria, defined as "those who may require significant medical treatment" and allowing certain exceptions.
A series of court challenges had put the policy on hold. But
In January, the United States Supreme Court overturned the decisions of the lower courts that had blocked the policy, allowing it to come into force.
Trump's decision to ban many transgender troops from reversing the policy of his predecessor Democrat Barack Obama in 2016, was to let transgenders serve for the first time openly in the armed forces and receive medical care. for men and women in transition.
This decision provoked a stern reprimand from House of Democrats Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday night.
"The rebirth by the president of his sectarian and disgusting ban on serving transgender members is a staggering attack on the patriots who protect us and against the most fundamental ideals of our country," she said in a statement.
She also said that Trump's position was a prejudice and not a patriotism.
Trump cited the concentration on the military and medical costs to cancel the policy.
A study commissioned by the Pentagon in 2016 revealed that any impact on the costs or military readiness of transgender troops would be marginal. He estimated that there were about 2,450 transgender men at the time.
Advocates of transgender people have criticized Trump's policy. "The Trump administration is determined to bring back" do not ask, do not say, "a policy forcing members of the military to choose between serving their country and telling the truth about who they were," said Aaron Belkin, director of Palm A think tank on LGBT rights, said in a statement.
Report by Eric Beech and Idrees Ali; additional reports by Rich McKay; Edited by Peter Cooney
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