11 August, 2017
President Donald Trump said Thursday that he is doing the US military a "great favor" by barring transgender people from serving in its ranks - even though the Pentagon has made no move to expel personnel since the commander in chief first tweeted the policy about-face two weeks ago.
The report believes you would need to spend almost a billion to replace all trans people now in the military, estimating a cost of $75,000 to recruit and trans someone.
"As you know, it's been a very complicated issue for the military, it's been a very confusing issue for the military, and I think I'm doing the military a great favor".
"Donald Trump's delusional comments regarding his reckless ban on transgender troops are demonstrably false and lack any basis in reality", said Chad Griffin, HRC President.
"I think I'm doing the military a great favor".
The president did not elaborate on exactly what "it" was.
But Trump said the issue of transgender troops has been a "very hard situation" for the United States armed forces.
In a series of tweets late last month, Trump declared that the military will no longer "accept or allow" transgender troops to serve "in any capacity". If the ban is imposed, it will violate the constitutional rights of five transgender women who are serving the army.
Pentagon sources have stated the threat of nuclear war with North Korea has reportedly got the White House to put a hold on the policy on open transgender service in the military.
The lawsuit was filed against Trump, Mattis and various other senior military officials by the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and GLAAD, a legal advocacy group.
