WEB DESK
US President Donald Trump has signed a memo ordering the Pentagon to ban an Obama-era plan of recruiting transgender individuals in the military, a move Democrats said is cruel and meant to hurt and humiliate American soldiers.
In a memorandum, a copy of which was released by the White House, Mr Trump directed the Secretary of Defense, Secretary of Homeland Security with respect to the US Coast Guard, to return to the longstanding practice on military service by trans gender individuals that was in place prior to June last year.
In the memorandum, Mr Trump alleged that his predecessor Barack Obama dismantled the Defense Departments’ established framework by permitting transgender individuals to serve openly in the military, authorising the use of its resources to fund sex-reassignment surgical procedures, and permitting accession of such individuals after July 1, this year.
The memorandum has requested the Pentagon to develop an implementation plan for the ban by February 21, 2018, which should be put in place on March 23, 2018.
Last month Trump had announced his decision in this regard on Twitter.