Trump's faith advisors discussed ban on transgender service members at White House meeting

Evangelical Christian leaders who informally advise President Donald Trump briefly discussed the issue of banning transgender individuals from serving in the military during a meeting at the White House earlier this month.

In a series of social media posts on Wednesday, Trump announced that the Pentagon will no longer allow transgenders to serve openly in the U.S. Armed Forces, citing "tremendous medical costs and disruption."

According to Religion News Service, several evangelical leaders, including some who had served on Trump's evangelical advisory board during the campaign, discussed the issue with various White House staff members on July 10 at the Eisenhower Executive Office meeting.

Evangelical author and public relations consultant Johnnie Moore, who was present at the meeting, said the policy on transgender people serving in the military had not been on the agenda for the meeting, but it was one of many topics that came out throughout the day.

"We briefly discussed this issue," he said, adding that evangelicals sent a signed letter to the president earlier this week, asking him to reverse the Obama policy allowing transgender people to serve in the military.

Moore noted that the letter was written by Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, who was present at the meeting, and was signed by several prominent evangelicals. He said he does not know if the letter had been read by the president.

In an interview with The Christian Post, Moore maintained that Trump's decision to rescind the Obama-era military policy had more to do with his discussions with military personnel than the influence of conservative evangelical leaders.

Trump had declared in his tweet on Wednesday, that he made the decision "after consultation" with his "generals and military experts."

Moore also noted that the issue was not discussed with the president when evangelical leaders prayed for him in the oval office.

"While in the all-day meeting that we had, the subject came up at a certain point among many, many subjects. It is inaccurate to say that it was discussed in the Oval Office with the president," he said.

"All we did with the president was pray with him. We didn't discuss a single issue with him. Those are the facts," he added.

The author explained that evangelicals were more concerned about the appointment of an ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom. On Wednesday, the White House announced that Trump is planning to nominate Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback to fill that position.

A day after Trump announced the ban on transgender service members, the Department of Defense stated that there will be no changes to the current policy until "the President's direction has been received by the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary has issued implementation guidance."

Several news outlets have reported that the ban came in response to a Capitol Hill dispute over whether taxpayer money should be used to pay for gender transition and hormone therapy for transgender service members.