+ A
A -
AFP
Washington
The US Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed President Donald Trump’s restrictions on transgender military service to take effect pending the outcome of litigation on the sensitive issue.
The White House had asked the Supreme Court to intervene after lower courts prohibited Trump’s administration from implementing the controversial restrictions.
The Trump administration has said there is “too great a risk to military effectiveness and lethality” to allow transgender people to serve openly -- a policy enacted under Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama.
The court decided by a narrow 5-4 majority to allow the restrictions as litigation moves forward in lower courts.
Under the Obama-era policy, transgender recruits were to start being accepted by July 1, 2017. The Trump administration postponed that date to January 1, 2018, before deciding to reverse the policy entirely. But the ban leads to an updated policy that also contained major restrictions.
It barred military service by people who had undergone gender reassignment surgery as well as people who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria -- unless they could demonstrate an absence of the condition for 36 consecutive months.
Washington
The US Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed President Donald Trump’s restrictions on transgender military service to take effect pending the outcome of litigation on the sensitive issue.
The White House had asked the Supreme Court to intervene after lower courts prohibited Trump’s administration from implementing the controversial restrictions.
The Trump administration has said there is “too great a risk to military effectiveness and lethality” to allow transgender people to serve openly -- a policy enacted under Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama.
The court decided by a narrow 5-4 majority to allow the restrictions as litigation moves forward in lower courts.
Under the Obama-era policy, transgender recruits were to start being accepted by July 1, 2017. The Trump administration postponed that date to January 1, 2018, before deciding to reverse the policy entirely. But the ban leads to an updated policy that also contained major restrictions.
It barred military service by people who had undergone gender reassignment surgery as well as people who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria -- unless they could demonstrate an absence of the condition for 36 consecutive months.
