US President Donald Trump has unexpectedly announced that he's banning transgendered people from serving in the US military.
He made the announcement on Twitter, and appears to have taken even officials at the Pentagon completely by surprise.
The President's spokeswoman insisted that the decision was in the "best interests of the military", but when challenged to explain how it might enhance the effectiveness of America's forces, she was unable to offer an explanation.
From Washington, Simon Marks reports.
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These are now, and very suddenly, deeply uncertain hours for the estimated 15 thousand transgendered people on the Pentagon's payroll…..some of them serving in Afghanistan and Iraq.
At a stroke, and completely out of the blue, President Trump took to Twitter and essentially fired them.
The man who once claimed he would champion the rights of the LGBT community, instead announced that "after consultation with my generals and military experts….the US Government will not allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the US military".
His spokeswoman, Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
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She claimed that he'd informed Defence Secretary James Mattis of his decision before it was announced.
There was no evidence of that on display at the Pentagon, where stunned press secretaries referred all questions about the policy to the White House.
Also unusual: no background briefings were made available to reporters about the detail of the decision….no answers were forthcoming to questions about whether serving transgendered people will now have to quit the forces.
The President's spokeswoman said all that still needs to be worked out.
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So, it seems clear that President Trump extemporized the announcement on Twitter….laid no groundwork for it….and did not consider whether the policy is so discriminatory it may run afoul of US laws.
Congressman Ted Lieu, a Democrat from California, says President Trump will force transgendered service personnel under ground.
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Some Republicans stood by the President…..Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee.
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But others utterly rejected the President's announcement, including the normally staunch Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, and Congresswoman Ileana Ros Letinen of Florida.
One possible explanation has surfaced for the bizarre events of the last few hours: the House of Representatives was debating a bill that - among other things - would fund the President's proposed border wall with Mexico.
But the legislation was stuck over proposals to it also contained to end government-funding for gender reassignment surgery for members of the US military.
Asked to help, President Trump decided simply to terminate transgendered military personnel altogether, throwing them under the bus in a bid to secure funding for the border wall.
It sounds at the very least highly unusual…..
but it's currently the only explanation in town.
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