Sen. John McCain co-sponsors bill to block ban on transgender service members

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) is co-sponsoring a legislation that is aimed at blocking President Donald Trump's mandate that bans transgender individuals from serving in the U.S. military.

According to The Hill, the legislation would prohibit the Pentagon from involuntarily separating or denying the re-enlistment of currently serving transgender troops based on their gender identity.

"When less than one percent of Americans are volunteering to join the military, we should welcome all those who are willing and able to serve our country," McCain said in a statement.

"Any member of the military who meets the medical and readiness standards should be allowed to serve — including those who are transgender," he added.

Other co-sponsors of the bill, which was introduced as a stand-alone legislation on Friday, are Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D.-N.Y.), Sen. Susan Collins (R.-Maine) and Sen. Jack Reed (D.-R.I.).

Gillibrand explained in a press release that the measure "would protect transgender service members by preventing the Department of Defense from removing currently serving members of the Armed Forces based solely on their gender identity. Transgender troops have been openly serving in the military since June 2016."

The bill came four days after Gillibrand and Collins introduced an amendment to the Pentagon budget bill to block the ban. However, the senators moved forward with the budget bill without voting on the amendment, prompting the lawmakers to introduce a separate legislation.

Trump announced on Twitter in July that he planned to ban all transgender individuals from serving in the military, and he followed through on the decision by signing a presidential memo in August.

On July 28, 45 senators wrote a letter to Mattis, asking him to tell the president that the ban is a bad idea. It is expected that those 45 senators will support the legislation to block the ban.

Gillibrand's bill would also require Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to assess the effects enlisting transgender individuals would have on the military, and submit the results of the review to Congress by the end of the year. Trump's order gave Mattis until Feb. 21, 2018 to complete the review, but the new legislation moves up the timeline by two months.

Mattis stated that he would establish a panel of experts to determine how to implement Trump's order, but he maintained that the currently serving transgender troops will be allowed to continue while the study is ongoing. According to a 2016 RAND study, there are currently about 1,320 to 6,630 transgender troops serving in the military.