Transgender Troops Can Re-Enlist... For Now

Screenshot from an ACLU video

From AP — New guidance released Friday by the Pentagon makes it clear that any transgender troops currently in the military can re-enlist in the next several months, even as the department debates how broadly to enforce a ban on their service ordered by President Donald Trump.

In a memo to top military leaders, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said a high-level panel will determine how to implement Trump’s ban on transgender individuals in the military.

Trump directed the military to indefinitely extend the ban on transgender individuals enlisting in the service, but he left it up to Mattis to decide if those currently serving should be allowed to stay.

Members of Congress have already sent a letter to Trump calling on him to reconsider the ban.

Sen. John McCain, the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Friday he backed legislation that would bar the Trump administration from forcing transgender troops out of the armed forces.

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