by Sophie Saint-Firmin, News Editor
“The Department of Defense confirms that as of Feb. 23, 2018, there is one transgender individual under contract for service in the U.S. military,” Maj. Dave Eastburn told CNN.
Initially, Trump announced his plan to prevent transgender people from joining the military in a tweet he posted last July.
“After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military,” Trump said. “Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail.”
The New York Times cited a 2016 study from the RAND Corporation, a research organization, that claimed transgender people in the military would “have minimal impact on readiness and health care costs.”
According to CNN, the recent recruit has met all the standards for serving in the military but has not yet begun basic training.
The recruitment was made possible by the ruling of a federal judge, e New Times wrote. A law instated Jan.1, 2018, said that transgender people could enlist.
Transgender people, historically, had not been permitted to join the military, but the Obama administration issued a directive that provided a framework allowing them to join in June 2016, wrote the Washington Post.
According to CNN, a three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said in December that transgender recruits are “already serving openly in the military.”