Trump issues official directive on controversial ban

The White House issued a memorandum Friday putting President Trump's promise to ban transgender persons from the military into practice, and ending the Obama administration's policies accommodating the group from June 2016.

Trump had previously announced his plan to ban transgender persons from the military in July, but had offered no official guidance on how to implement the policy. The memo answers some of the questions about practically implementing his ban.

Most controversial will be his order that no medical efforts be made to accommodate transgender persons. Ostensibly, that includes medication for transitioning from one gender to the other, and gender reassignment surgery.

CBS' White House correspondent Mark Knoller reported, "The Trump memorandum bars entry to the military of transgender individuals; and ends new funding for sex-reassignment surgery."

"The Trump directive is vague on the issue of currently-serving transgender personnel and leaves it up to [Defense Secretary] Mattis to decide," he added.

Trump spoke about his intention to ban transgender persons from the military two weeks before issuing the official memo, saying, “I have great respect for the community. I think I’ve had great support, or I’ve had great support from that community."

"I got a lot of votes," he continued. "It’s been a very complicated issue for the military, it’s been a very confusing issue for the military, and I think I’m doing the military a great favor.”

Here's Trump's twitter notice in July on his intention to ban transgender persons from the military:

Unsurprisingly, the memorandum was met with anger and vitriol from the left. Feminist and LGBT advocate Amy Siskind tweeted, "Trump's Friday afternoon f-you to the American people."

"Only the worst of us stand with you Trump," she added. "You're a disgrace!"