WASHINGTON, D.C., December 11, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) – A federal court has ruled that the Trump administration must comply by January 1 with the Obama administration’s 2016 policy of allowing transgender recruits into the military.
District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly’s ruling denies White House attempts to prevent self-identifying transgender individuals from entering military service dating back to last summer.
At the time, President Trump tweeted, “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 US Military.” The President added, “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.”
The Trump administration had sought to delay a June 2016 policy change by the Obama administration that allowed transgender individuals to serve openly in the military. The Obama policy had set a one-year deadline for the military to begin accepting new transgender recruits. But legal battles that ensued eventually pushed the deadline to January 1, 2018.
Kollar-Kotelly ruled that she was not convinced that the deadlined need to be pushed
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