Trump Bans Transgender People from Serving in US Military

Posted by African Examiner Latest Headlines, U.S./Canada, World News Wednesday, July 26th, 2017

BALTIMORE, MD (AFRICAN EXAMINER) – US President Mr. Donald Trump has declared that ”transgender” people will no more be engaged in “any capacity” in the Military.

In a series of tweet, Mr. Trump said he had consulted with military experts and cited “tremendous medical costs and disruption”.

“After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military.

“Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail” Trump tweeted.

It would be recalled that the Obama administration allowed last year, transgender people to serve openly in the US military.

However, in June, the Defence Secretary Mr. James Mattis agreed to a six-month delay in the recruitment of transgender people.

The Pentagon said then that the move then was to allow different branches of the military to “review their accession plans and provide input on the impact to the readiness and lethality of our forces”.

Already, some Republicans have opposed allowing transgender people to serve at all.

The Independent Rand Corporation estimated in 2016 that a total of 2,450 of the 1.2 million active-duty service members were transgender, though some campaigners claimed higher figure.