Up to 1,000 transgender troops are being moved out of the military in
new Pentagon order
[May 09, 2025]
By LOLITA C. BALDOR
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon will immediately begin moving as many as
1,000 openly identifying transgender service members out of the military
and give others 30 days to self-identify under a new directive issued
Thursday.
Buoyed by Tuesday’s Supreme Court decision allowing the Trump
administration to enforce a ban on transgender individuals in the
military, the Defense Department will begin going through medical
records to identify others who haven’t come forward.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who issued the latest memo, made his
views clear after the court’s decision.
“No More Trans @ DoD,” Hegseth wrote in a post on X. Earlier in the day,
before the court acted, Hegseth said that his department is leaving
wokeness and weakness behind.
“No more pronouns,” he told a special operations forces conference in
Tampa. “No more dudes in dresses. We’re done with that s---.”
Department officials have said it’s difficult to determine exactly how
many transgender service members there are, but medical records will
show those who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, who show
symptoms or are being treated.
Those troops would then be involuntarily forced out of the service. And
no one with that diagnosis will be allowed to enlist. Gender dysphoria
occurs when a person’s biological sex does not match up with their
gender identity.
Officials have said that as of Dec. 9, 2024, there were 4,240 troops
diagnosed with gender dysphoria in the active duty, National Guard and
Reserve. But they acknowledge the number may be higher.
There are about 2.1 million total troops serving.
The memo released Thursday mirrors one sent out in February, but any
action was stalled at that point by several lawsuits.
The Supreme Court ruled that the administration could enforce the ban on
transgender people in the military, while other legal challenges
proceed. The court’s three liberal justices said they would have kept
the policy on hold.
Neither the justices in the majority or dissent explained their votes,
which is not uncommon in emergency appeals.
When the initial Pentagon directive came out earlier this year, it gave
service members 30 days to self-identify. Since then, about 1,000 have
done so.
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Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth listens during a meeting with
Peru's Foreign Affairs Minister Elmer Schialer and Peru's Minister
of Defense Walter Astudillo at the Pentagon, Monday, May 5, 2025, in
Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
In a statement, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the 1,000 troops
who already self-identified “will begin the voluntary separation
process” from the military.
Under the new guidelines, active duty troops will have until June 6 to
voluntarily identify themselves to the department, and troops in the
National Guard and Reserve will have until July 7.
While it may be difficult to see which troops have changed their gender
identity in their military records, it will be easier to determine who
has gotten a gender dysphoria diagnosis because that will be part of
their medical record, as will any medication they are taking.
Between 2015 and 2024, the total cost for psychotherapy,
gender-affirming hormone therapy, gender-affirming surgery and other
treatment for service members is about $52 million, according to a
defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss
personnel issues.
Pentagon officials in an earlier memo defended the ban, saying that “the
medical, surgical, and mental health constraints on individuals who have
a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with,
gender dysphoria are incompatible with the high mental and physical
standards necessary for military service."
The new Pentagon policy would allow for limited exemptions.
That includes transgender personnel seeking to enlist who can prove on a
case-by-case basis that they directly support warfighting activities, or
if an existing service member diagnosed with gender dysphoria can prove
they support a specific warfighting need, never transitioned to the
gender they identify with and proves over 36 months they are stable in
their biological sex “without clinically significant distress.”
If a waiver is issued, the applicant would still face a situation where
only their biological sex was recognized for bathroom facilities,
sleeping quarters and even in official recognition, such as being called
“Sir” or “Ma’am.”
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