ACLU sues President Trump over transgender military ban

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has announced it is suing President Donald Trump over his transgender ban for the U.S. military.

“We’re taking [Donald Trump] to court to challenge the unconstitutional transgender military ban,” the ACLU tweeted Monday morning.

(Twitter)

The President on Friday signed a directive that instructs the Pentagon to prohibit transgender people from joining the military, and it gives Defense Secretary Jim Mattis the power to remove any transgender service member based on deployability.

The new directive would also end payments for gender reassignment surgeries for those in the military, as well as other medical treatments for gender transitioning.

On July 26, Trump announced the ban in three tweets that seemingly blindsided officials and outraged many people.

“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 tweeted.

“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,” he said.

Mattis will reportedly have six months to prepare to implement the White House’s directive.

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