Defense Sec Mattis has been against a ban of transgenders in the military and has stalled his comments on the issue…
He has now passed his views on the President…
The order from Trump would give Mattis and the Homeland Sec Secretary some latitude in enforcement….
It is NOT an outright ban which would be a against a standing court order protecting the basic rights of transgender Americans…
President Trump is moving ahead with his plan to ban most transgender people from serving in the military, with limited exceptions, following up on a proposal he called for last summer.
The White House issued a memorandum late Friday on policies determined by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, stating that transgender people are “disqualified from military service except under limited circumstances.”
The memo, filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle, states that “transgender persons with a history or diagnosis of gender dysphoria — individuals who the policies state may require substantial medical treatment, including medications and surgery — are disqualified from military service except under certain limited circumstances.”
Mattis will have some leeway in implementing the policy, the memo states, as will Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen when it comes to the Coast Guard. The ban is something Mattis “concluded should be adopted,” it notes….
This must be Trump showing his “Republican tendencies.”
Update….
The Trump administration’s latest effort to bar transgender people from serving in the military remains on hold for now, a federal judge ruled Friday night in a decision finding strong constitutional protections against anti-transgender discrimination.
“The ban specifically targets one of the most vulnerable groups in our society, and must satisfy strict scrutiny if it is to survive,” US District Judge Masha Pechman ruled in assessing the “history of discrimination and systemic oppression of transgender people” in the US.
In order for the ban to be found to be constitutional under strict scrutiny — one of the toughest constitutional standards to meet — the government would have to show that the ban is advancing a compelling government interest and that “the means chosen ‘fit'” that interest “so closely that there is little or no possibility that the motive for the classification was illegitimate . . . prejudice or stereotype.”….
More…
One might think that Mattis is secretly happy with this….
He was against Trump’s trying to stop transgender service in the military…