President Donald Trump’s tweets declaring transgender people unwelcome in his military have plunged the Pentagon into a legal and moral quagmire.
A flurry of meetings has taken place in recent days, the start of an effort to devise a new policy. The result could be hundreds of service members being discharged.
Adm. Paul Zukunft, the Coast Guard commandant, says a team of military lawyers has been pulled together to deal with the matter.
These lawyers are working with the White House to flush out some of the issues. They’re bolstered by a Pentagon working group that had initially been set up to advance the implementation of the Obama administration’s year-old repeal of a transgender ban.
On July 26 Trump tweeted that transgender individuals won’t be allowed to serve in the country’s military. He said the decision came after consultations with military experts and generals.
Trump justified the decision saying the military must be “focused on decisive and overwhelming victory,” and transgender individuals would add “tremendous medical costs.” He did not elaborate on what the costs would be.
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