US military must accept transgender recruits by Jan 1, rules judge

WASHINGTON: Transgender recruits will be able to join the US military as of Jan. 1 after a federal judge on Monday denied a request by President Donald Trump’s administration to enforce his ban on transgender troops while the government appeals an order blocking it. In a ruling, with which the Pentagon said it would comply, US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in Washington refused to lift part of her Oct. 30 order stopping the ban from taking effect until the case is resolved, saying it likely violated the US Constitution’s guarantees of due process and equal protection under the law. The White House said the Justice Department was reviewing its options. The Pentagon said in a statement that it would follow court orders and begin processing transgender applicants on Jan. 1. It added, however, that it and the US Department of Justice “are actively pursuing relief from those court orders in order to allow an ongoing policy review scheduled to be completed before the end of March.” The administration had argued that the Jan. 1 deadline was problematic because tens of thousands of personnel would have to be trained on the medical standards needed to process transgender applicants, and the military was not ready for that.