Pentagon Will Lift Military Ban On Trans Service Members On July 1

Some much-needed good news.
From: NewNowNext

 The Pentagon will announce the repeal of the ban on transgender service members on July 1, according to USA Today, removing the last vestiges of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.

The ban’s end was initially announced last June, and was expected to take place by May 27 of this year. But sources inside the Department of Defense claimed it was a “complicated” process, and the deadline came and went. That left trans service members like Army helicopter pilot Shane Ortega in legal limbo.

Apparently those complications have now been sorted out.

Top personnel officials plan to meet as early as Monday to finalize details of the plan, and Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work could sign off on it by Wednesday, according to a Defense official familiar with the timetable but who spoke on condition of anonymity because officials were not authorized to speak publicly about it.

Final approval would come from Defense Secretary Ash Carter, and the announcement will be on the eve of the Fourth of July weekend.

Each branch of the Armed Forces will then have a year to implement new guidelines regarding housing, uniforms, medical leave and other aspects affecting transgender troops.