Trump's Transgender Military Ban: 5 Things You Need to Know
Trump First Announced Plans to Implement Ban in July
Trump announced the ban in a series of tweets posted on July 26. The social media postings stated that military leadership supported the ban.
"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," tweeted Trump.
"[Our military] cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail."
Soon after the tweets, U.S. Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, sent a message to military leadership clarifying that Trump's Twitter posts do not change their current policies.
"I know there are questions about yesterday's announcement on the transgender policy by the President," stated Gen. Dunford, as reported by Politico.
"There will be no modifications to the current policy until the President's direction has been received by the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary has issued implementation guidance."