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July 2015: Moving to End an Outdated Approach Photo Credit Zach Gibson/The New York Times

Mr. Hagels successor as defense secretary, Ashton B. Carter, announced that the Pentagon would move to allow transgender people to serve openly, making good on Mr. Hagels promise of continual review.

In announcing the plan, Mr. Carter acknowledged the many transgender people who were already serving in the military.

We have transgender soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines real, patriotic Americans who I know are being hurt by an outdated, confusing, inconsistent approach thats contrary to our value of service and individual merit, he said.

In previous months, lawmakers had begun to openly champion the cause of transgender service members.

Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., speaking to the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights group, argued that transgender people should be allowed to serve in the armed forces.

The vice president, who was still contemplating a presidential run at the time, called transgender rights the civil rights issue of our time.

A study commissioned by Mr. Carter and carried out by the RAND Corporation found that allowing transgender people to serve openly would cost little and have no significant impact on unit readiness.

The study estimated that 2,450 active-duty members were transgender and predicted that around 65 would seek to transition each year. It estimated that the cost to the Pentagon of those procedures would be $2.9 million to $4.2 million a year.

The study predicted that service members would not seek to transition were the procedures not covered by the Pentagon, and that they would likely have higher rates of substance abuse and suicide as a result.

Effective immediately, transgender Americans may serve openly, Mr. Carter announced, on June 30, 2016. They can no longer be discharged or otherwise separated from the military just for being transgender.

He said that the Pentagon would cover the medical costs of those in uniform who wished to undergo gender transition, and that it would begin a yearlong training program for service members on the changes.

Mr. Trumps victory in November was greeted with alarm by many in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, who feared reversals of political advances.

All across America right now there are millions of people who are terrified, Mara Keisling, the executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, told The Times.

Mr. Trump had sometimes seemed to court their support in his race against Hillary Clinton, tweeting during the campaign, Thank you to the L.G.B.T. community! I will fight for you while Hillary brings in more people that will threaten your freedoms and beliefs.

Two transgender cadets one at West Point, the other at the Air Force Academy were denied their commissions because of a loophole in the Pentagons transgender policy, which officials said only covered active-duty service members.

The policy, which had been released in October, was written by Brad Carson, an undersecretary of defense under President Obama.

But Mr. Carson said that he had envisioned academy personnel as being covered by the same rules as active-duty service members because theyre already in the military.

A year after Mr. Carter lifted the Pentagons ban, Mr. Trumps defense secretary, Jim Mattis, delayed a plan to allow transgender recruits to join the military.

According to a Pentagon spokeswoman, the delay would allow service leaders to review their accession plans and provide input as they consider the impact of transgender recruits on the readiness and lethality of our forces.

Congressional Republicans were also attempting to roll back the Obama policy. In early July, the House narrowly rejected a bill that would have stopped the Pentagon from paying for gender transition and hormone therapy.

On Wednesday, Mr. Trump swiftly reversed what had been ushered in by the Obama administration, saying on Twitter that he had made the decision based on advice from generals and military experts. (He did not specify whom he had consulted.)

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 wrote in a series of tweets.

Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail.

More:
How US Military Policy on Transgender Personnel Changed Under Obama - New York Times