Transgender recruits to be accepted into US military from next week


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Transgender people will be allowed for the first time to enlist in the US military starting as ordered by federal courts, the Pentagon says, after President Donald Trump’s administration decided not to appeal rulings that blocked his transgender ban.


Two federal appeals courts, one in Washington and one in Virginia, last week rejected the administration’s request to put on hold orders by lower court judges requiring the military to begin accepting transgender recruits on January 1.


A Justice Department official said the administration will not challenge those rulings.


A federal appeals court has rejected Donald Trump's military transgender ban.

Lawyers representing currently serving transgender service members and aspiring recruits said they had expected the administration to appeal those rulings to the conservative-majority Supreme Court but were hoping that would not happen.


In a move that appealed to his hard-line conservative supporters, Trump announced in July that he would prohibit transgender people from serving in the military, reversing Democratic former president Barack Obama’s policy of accepting them.


Trump said on Twitter at the time that the military “cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail”.


Four federal judges issued rulings blocking Trump’s ban while legal challenges to the Republican president’s policy proceed.


The judges said the ban would likely violate the right under the US Constitution to equal protection under the law.


Openly transgender individuals would be able to join the armed forces for the first time, subject to certain medical standards set forth by the Pentagon.


The administration had argued that the military was not prepared to train the personnel needed to properly assess transgender applicants.


The Obama administration had set a deadline of July 1 of this year to begin accepting transgender recruits.


But Trump’s defence secretary, James Mattis, postponed that date to January 1, which the president’s ban then put off indefinitely.


Article source: http://smh.com.au/wa-news/please-shawn-as-your-brother-i-beg-you-shawns-newtons-brother-heartfelt-plea-20170719-gxegc6.html

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