Transgender People Can Still Serve for Now, U.S. Military Says
By HELENE COOPERJULY 27, 2017
WASHINGTON — Transgender people can continue to serve in the military for now, Pentagon leaders said on Thursday, scrambling to clarify the confusion surrounding President Trump’s abrupt announcement a day earlier
that transgender people would no longer be accepted or allowed in uniform.
In a letter to the military service chiefs, Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said
that the policy on who is allowed to serve would not change until the White House sends the Defense Department new rules and the secretary of defense issues new guidelines.
Dana White, the chief Pentagon spokeswoman, said the Defense Department would provide detailed
guidance in the “near future” on how Mr. Trump’s tweets will be turned into policy.
“I respect the leadership at the Pentagon, and the deliberative way they have done this,” said Tyler Deaton, a senior adviser to American Unity Fund, a Republican advocacy group
that supports rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
“Let the military tell us about the policy change, what it does, does it affect the people currently serving and what is the recommendation.”
The Pentagon had little to officially say on Wednesday, and General Dunford’s memo on Thursday cast further doubt on Mr. Trump’s assertion
that he had made the decision after consulting his military advisers.
It announced in June 2016 that transgender service members could serve openly, and
that the Defense Department would work to figure out how to allow transgender recruits