U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has ordered that the existing policy allowing transgender personnel to serve in the U.S. Armed Forces would remain in place pending a study on transgender military service, following which he would advise President Donald Trump on how to implement a ban of transgender people from the armed services.
Mattis, a former Marine Corps general and the chief executive officer of the Department of Defense, had reportedly been one of several among serving and retired top brass who was surprised by Trump's announcement of the ban via Twitter.
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The directive caught flak from transgender service members, veterans, LGBTQ civil rights groups and allies who found it to be arbitrary and discriminatory.
Some of Trump's core supporters agreed with the measure such as Tony Perkins, the head of right-wing Family Research Council – a group described as an anti-gay “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
In 2016, the Pentagon had said it would allow transgender people to serve openly. According to a 2016 study by the RAND Corporation think-tank, anywhere from 2,000 to 11,000 active duty and reserve troops are transgender.
Mattis said he would set up a panel of experts serving in the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security to provide recommendations on implementing the ban. He is widely expected to consider budgetary concerns and the deployability of transgender service members as his main criteria for determining whether the ban should go into effect.
He said he would advise the president after the panel reports it recommendations, and "in the interim, current policy with respect to currently serving members will remain in place."
On Friday, Trump signed a memorandum directing the U.S. military not to accept transgender men and women as recruits while halting the use of government funds for sex-reassignment surgeries for active personnel unless the process is already under way. According to Military Times, around 250 service members transitioning gender or have been given approval to formally change their gender in line with Pentagon protocol.
According to Trump's directive, the ban on transgender service members is reversible on the condition that the secretary of homeland security and defense secretary “provides a recommendation to the contrary that I find convincing.”
Mattis said he expects to issue other guidance "including any necessary interim adjustments to procedures, to ensure the continued combat readiness of the force until our final policy on this subject is issued."