LEGAL/MILITARY/TRANSGENDER/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Trump administration’s latest effort at banning transgender individuals from serving in the military amounts to what legal experts said is essentially a reprise of an all-too-familiar directive at the Pentagon: the 1994 ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy. A slew of medical and legal professionals have already lined up against the newest White House order, issued late Friday [3-23-18] night, which experts said may survive only if it is backed by the Supreme Court. That order is based on recommendations outlined by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis in a Feb. 22 memo on the circumstances under which transgender people would be allowed to join or remain in the military. The memo by Mr. Mattis disqualified all people ‘who require or have undergone gender transition.'”
-Helene Cooper and Thomas Gibbons-Neff, “Trump Approves New Limits on Transgender Troops in the Military,” The New York Times online, Mar. 28, 2018