A federal court has temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s United States military transgender policy announced in July, says a report from The Hill. The block comes “as a case against his ban works its way through court”:
A judge in the U.S. district court for D.C. ruled Monday that Trump’s directive changing the transgender policy back to what it was before June 2016 and banning new transgender recruits from enlisting cannot be enforced while the case is being reviewed in court.
The judge also blocked the Trump Administration’s move to ban taxpayer-funded gender reassignment surgeries.
Trump made his bold announcement to reverse the Obama Administration transgender directive on July 26, unsurprisingly, via Twitter.
“After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military,” wrote Trump. “Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Thank you.”
Prior to Obama’s directive, the military excluded individuals who suffer from psychological disorders like gender dysphoria. Trump’s new transgender policy would simply restore this longstanding ban.