Guidance released on Friday by the Pentagon says that any transgender troops in the military can re-enlist in the next several months, even as the department debates how broadly to enforce a ban on their service ordered by US President Donald Trump.
In a memo to military leaders, US Secretary of Defense James Mattis said a high-level panel would determine how to implement the ban.
Trump directed the military to indefinitely extend the ban, but he left it up to Mattis to decide if those serving would be allowed to stay.
Members of the US Congress have already sent a letter to Trump calling on him to reconsider.
Senator John McCain on Friday said he backed legislation that would bar the Trump administration from forcing transgender troops out of the armed forces.
McCain said in a statement that any service member, including those who are transgender, who meet the standards for military readiness and medical fitness should be permitted to serve.
“When less than 1 percent of Americans are volunteering to join the military, we should welcome all those who are willing and able to serve our country,” McCain said.
The bill is an attempt to establish protections for transgender troops in law, cutting off Trump’s efforts to kick service members out based on their gender identity.
In his memo, Mattis said the deputy secretary of defense and the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff would lead a panel that would determine how the department will implement the ban.
Outside experts might be included to provide additional advice.
Mattis in his memo also said that transgender troops can continue to receive any required medical care, the Pentagon said.
That interim guidance laid out in the memo will stay in effect until Feb. 21 next year, when the Pentagon must complete its final plan on how and when transgender people may serve.
The bill supported by McCain is also sponsored by Democrat Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Jack Reed, and Republican Senator Susan Collins.
Gillibrand said she had planned to offer the measure protecting transgender troops as an amendment to the annual defense policy bill the Senate has been considering over the past several days.
However, she said the Senate’s Republican leadership “cut off debate” and blocked the amendment from getting a vote.
The legislation also requires Mattis to complete his policy review by end of the year and to provide the results to Congress.
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