Transgender People Can Still Serve for Now, U.S. Military Says<br />By HELENE COOPERJULY 27, 2017<br />WASHINGTON — Transgender people can continue to serve in the military for now, Pentagon leaders said on Thursday, scrambling to clarify the confusion surrounding President Trump’s abrupt announcement a day earlier<br />that transgender people would no longer be accepted or allowed in uniform.<br />In a letter to the military service chiefs, Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said<br />that the policy on who is allowed to serve would not change until the White House sends the Defense Department new rules and the secretary of defense issues new guidelines.<br />Dana White, the chief Pentagon spokeswoman, said the Defense Department would provide detailed<br />guidance in the “near future” on how Mr. Trump’s tweets will be turned into policy.<br />“I respect the leadership at the Pentagon, and the deliberative way they have done this,” said Tyler Deaton, a senior adviser to American Unity Fund, a Republican advocacy group<br />that supports rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.<br />“Let the military tell us about the policy change, what it does, does it affect the people currently serving and what is the recommendation.”<br />The Pentagon had little to officially say on Wednesday, and General Dunford’s memo on Thursday cast further doubt on Mr. Trump’s assertion<br />that he had made the decision after consulting his military advisers.<br />It announced in June 2016 that transgender service members could serve openly, and<br />that the Defense Department would work to figure out how to allow transgender recruits
