The Trump administration had not decided how a transgender military service ban would be implemented or how currently serving transgender troops would be dealt with before the president’s string of morning tweets, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Wednesday.
Trump came to the conclusion Tuesday that transgender service should be banned because it hurts military readiness, as well as being “very expensive and disruptive,” after consulting with his national security team. On the same day, the president notified Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who was on vacation, of the decision despite the administration having no clear path forward, Sanders said during a press briefing.
“Look, sometimes I think you have to make decisions and once he made a decision he didn’t feel it was necessary to hold that decision and they’re going to work together with the Department of Defense to lawfully implement it,” she said.
Sanders said Wednesday the department must now determine how to handle its current transgender troops, some of whom are likely deployed to war zones. The department estimates there are hundreds in the ranks but other estimates among advocacy groups range as high as 16,000.
“The implementation policy is going to be something that the White House and the Department of Defense have to work together to lawfully determine, I would imagine that the Department of Defense will be the lead on that and keep you posted as that takes place,” she said.
The Twitter anouncement took all but the top officials at the department by surprise and reverses an Obama-era policy implemented last year allowing transgender troops to serve openly. Under orders from Mattis in late June, the department delayed the second phase of the integration, which governed recruitment of transgender troops, until January as it studies requirements at boot camp.
“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 wrote. “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.”
Transgender service members, like all troops, have healthcare costs covered by the military and that now includes hormone treatment and gender-reassignment surgery, which are associated with their gender dysphoria medical condition.
A Rand Corp. study in 2016 estimated annual medical costs for active-duty transgender troops would be $2.4 million to $8.4 million, a tiny fraction of the military’s overall medical bill.
