Trump says transgender people should not serve in military

U.S. President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he would not

allow transgender individuals to serve in the U.S. military in any

capacity.

"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," Trump tweeted.

The U.S. 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," he continued.

A ban on transgender people serving openly in the military ended last

year, but a year-long review was put in place to allow the Pentagon to

figure out how to bring in new transgender recruits into the military.

Trump's announcement came after U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis

said he was delaying the implementation of the new plan on the eve of

the one-year deadline for the military to upgrade medical standards for

transgender service members.

Mattis said late in June that the Pentagon needs more time to assess

whether the new policy would affect the ability of the U.S. military to

defend the country.

A Pentagon-commissioned study in 2016 showed that there are an

estimated 1,320 to 6,630 transgender service members in the U.S.

military.

It concluded that allowing them to serve openly would have a minimal

impact on the readiness and health care costs of the 1.3-million-member

U.S. military force.

Several Republican Congressmen have urged the Trump administration to

reverse the policy on the basis that it is not in the interest of the

national defense.