JAMES MATTIS/LGBTQ/MILITARY: “Defense Secretary Jim Mattis plans to convene a panel of experts to help implement a ban on transgender service in the military, but there are still too few top defense officials to adequately conduct the review, a top Pentagon spokeswoman said Wednesday [8-30-17].
Like other federal agencies, the Defense Department has dozens of unfilled senior jobs, and many of the empty posts at the Pentagon are those of top civilian officials who Pentagon officials said are needed for the policy review…
Mr. Mattis said in a statement Tuesday that such a panel would provide recommendations on implementing the transgender service ban ordered by President Donald Trump in a series of tweets in July and in formal guidance to the Pentagon last week…
The White House guidance gave Mr. Mattis six months—until February—to implement the order. Mr. Mattis said that there would be no changes pertaining to transgender service members already in the military until the Pentagon has developed its implementation plan. Some ‘interim guidance’ pertaining to current policy, however, would be issued in coming weeks, defense officials said.
Mr. Trump also wants the military to stop funding medical treatment for transgender service members…
Many details about the Pentagon process remain unclear, and Mr. Mattis appears to have been given broad leeway to determine the fate of sitting transgender service members, who are estimated to number between 1,000 and 7,000, according to surveys.”
-Gordon Lubold, “Pentagon Panel on Transgender Policy in Search of More Members,” The Wall Street Journal online, Aug. 30, 2017 07:52pm