The Coast Guard will allow transgender members to continue to serve until there is an explicit policy that bans them, the agency says.
"We are certainly committed to their continued service in the United States Coast Guard," Commandant Adm. Paul Zukunft told a House Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee hearing, Politico reports. "We will make sure that there is a one policy for all service members."
His vow came as all five of the armed services continue to discuss how to adjust to President Donald Trump's efforts to ban on transgender people in the military.
Zukunft said at least 17 of the 40,000 active-duty Coast Guard members would be considered transgender or to have transitioned, including one transgender person on his personal staff.
Last Friday, a federal judge late Friday barred the government from implementing Trump's ban on transgender troops, pending a review of court challenges because of the history of discrimination against transgender individuals.
U.S. District Court Judge Marsha Pechman of the Western District of Washington ruled transgender people were a protected class of people.
Trump last month signed a memorandum that said transgender individuals with a history of "gender dysphoria" were disqualified from military service "except under certain limited circumstances."
Such troops were defined as "those who may require substantial medical treatment, including through medical drugs or surgery."
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