President Donald Trump on Saturday signed a memo effectively barring transgender people from joining the US military, but left the fate of those already serving up to the Pentagon.
In a widely anticipated move, Mr Trump directed the military “to return to the longstanding policy and practice on military service by transgender individuals prior to June 2016” — to go into effect from March 23, 2018.
That means an effective ban on new openly transgender personnel and on payment for treatment for those already in the armed forces, aides said.
The memorandum calls on defense secretary Jim Mattis and homeland security chiefs to submit an implementation plan by mid-February, and granted Gen. Mattis broad discretion what to do about currently serving transgender personnel.
