Report: Secretary Mattis Recommends Allowing Transgenders to Serve in Military—If They Are Deployable

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary James Mattis has recommended that transgenders be allowed to serve in the military as long as they are deployable, according to reports from several outlets.

Fox News states that Mattis made the recommendation to President Trump this week. It notes that Mattis recently rolled out a policy outlining that if a member of the military is not able to deploy with their unit for more than one year, with the exception of being wounded in combat, he or she will be released from the Armed Forces.

“We’ve come out with a policy that if you’re not deployable for a year or more you’re going to have to go somewhere else,” Mattis said.

Officials told Fox that the policy, along with the recent federal court ruling requiring the allowance of transgender service members, shaped Mattis’ thinking on the matter. He was to have submitted his recommendations to the president this week.

According to military.com, spokesperson Dana White said in a Pentagon briefing on Thursday that Mattis’ focus was maintaining the “lethality” of the troops.

“This is a complex issue, and the secretary is taking his time to consider the information he’s been given,” she said. “It’s an important issue, and again, he sees all of his decisions through the lens of lethality.”

The matter has now raised the question of whether those who obtain so-called “sex-change” operations will be able to serve as recovery may be longer than one year. The military will likely not pay for such surgeries, reports state.

As previously reported, last July, President Trump announced his decision to reinstate the ban on transgenders in the military, advising that the issue is a distraction and would place a burden on the finances of the Armed Forces.

“After consultation with my generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. military,” he tweeted. “Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgenders in the military would entail. Thank you.”

Weeks later, five service members filed suit to challenge the ban, with the assistance of the National Center for Lesbian Rights and GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders.

Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, appointed to the bench by then-President Bill Clinton, issued an injunction in favor of the complainants in October, writing in part, “On the record before the court, there is absolutely no support for the claim that the ongoing service of transgender people would have any negative effective on the military at all. In fact, there is considerable evidence that it is the discharge and banning of such individuals that would have such effects.”

However, while Kollar-Kotelly blocked Trump’s ban from being enforced, she also declined to place a restraining order on the government ban on paying for “sex reassignment” surgeries.

The U.S. Department of Justice requested a stay of the ruling, but Kollar-Kotelly opined that there was no reason for the enlistment not to proceed. Enlistment opened on Jan. 1.

President Trump is expected to issue a final decision on the matter, taking into account Mattis’ recommendations, next month.

As previously reported, Scripture states that those who turn God’s creation “upside down” are like the clay telling the potter that he doesn’t know what he’s doing.

Romans 9:20 says, “Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to Him that formed it, ‘Why hast thou made me thus?’”

Isaiah 29:16 also declares, “Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter’s clay, for shall the work say of Him that made it, ‘He made me not?’ Or shall the thing framed say of Him that framed it, ‘He had no understanding?’”