Defense Secretary delays implementation of ban on transgender service members pending expert study

Defense Secretary James Mattis has announced that transgenders will be allowed to continue serving in the U.S. military until he establishes a panel of experts to study ways to implement President Donald Trump's policy banning transgender service members.

In a statement released on Tuesday, Mattis said that he intends to "carry out the president's policy direction," but not until he establishes an expert panel to "analyze all pertinent data, quantifiable and non-quantifiable."

He noted that the "current policy with respect to currently serving (transgenders) will remain in place" until he receives the panel's advice and recommendations, according to CNS News.

Mattis stated that the study and implementation plan that will be developed by the Defense Department will "contain the steps that will promote military readiness, lethality, and unit cohesion, with due regard for budgetary constraints and consistent with applicable law."

"The implementation plan will address accessions of transgender individuals and transgender individuals currently serving in the United States military," the statement issued by Mattis read.

"Our focus must always be on what is best for the military's combat effectiveness leading to victory on the battlefield," it continued.

The presidential memorandum, issued by Trump last Friday, directs the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security to reinstate the longstanding ban on transgender service members that was lifted by the Obama administration in June 2016.

The memo also prohibits the use of federal funds to pay for gender reassignment surgery for military personnel.

Trump had stated that the decision to lift the ban had "dismantled the Departments' established framework."

The president said that the ban on transgender service members must remain in effect "until such time as the Secretary of Defense, after consulting with the Secretary of Homeland Security, provides a recommendation to the contrary that I find convincing."

According to a study conducted by the RAND Corporation, an estimated 2,500 active duty personnel are transgender.

On Monday, two lawsuits challenging the ban have been filed by various civil rights groups. One of the suits was filed in Baltimore federal court by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of six transgender individuals serving in several branches of the army.

The second case was filed in Seattle by Lambda Legal, a group of lawyers fighting for gay rights, and OutServe-SLDN, which advocates for equality in the military. The suit was filed on behalf of an army staff sergeant, two transgender people who wish to join the military and various other groups.

Both lawsuits argued that the ban violates the U.S. Constitution which guarantees equal protection and due process under the Fifth Amendment, while one contended that it also infringed on the free speech rights of service members.