Washington Late Monday, President Donald Trump issued directives that forbid openly transgender service members from serving in the United States military and that repress any diversity initiatives, such as excluding un-American ideas from military schools.
Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness, an executive order issued shortly before 11 p.m. Eastern, specifically prohibits members of the armed forces from having a gender dysphoria diagnosis, which is generally understood by medical professionals to be the incongruence between a person’s sex at birth and their experienced gender.
The new policy, which revokes a 2021 Biden administration decision that let transgender people to serve, cites character, medical, and surgical limitations as justifications for preventing the service of the particular group.
The directive states that adopting a gender identification that is incongruous with one’s sex goes against a soldier’s dedication to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life, in addition to the hormonal and surgical medical procedures required. The humility and selflessness expected of a service member are incompatible with a man’s claim that he is a woman and his demand that others respect this deception.
Trump’s 2018 decree prohibiting openly transgender military service members was overturned by former President Joe Biden’s 2021 policy. The U.S. Supreme Court temporarily upheld Trump’s ban in a 2019 ruling.
On Monday evening, Trump gave newly appointed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth instructions to immediately order DoD to update department medical standards and stop using created and identification-based pronouns within 60 days.
All questions were sent to the Defense Health Agency by the Pentagon. On Tuesday, the agency stated that it required further time to present data on health care expenditures and actual military transgender member numbers.
5,727 reservists and 8,980 transgender active duty soldiers were serving in the U.S. military at the time, according to a 2018 Palm Center research. From 1998 to 2022, the California-based think organization that researched military prohibitions on LGBTQ+ people was in operation.
According to a 2021 Military.com report, the Defense Department spent $11.58 million on psychotherapy for military members who suffer from gender dysphoria between January 1, 2016, and May 14, 2021. According to the report, 637 service personnel received $340,000 in hormone therapy over that period, while 243 underwent $3.1 million in surgery.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that overall discretionary defense spending in 2021 was $742 billion.
Trump’s action was condemned by a number of advocacy groups.
Transgender current and former service members’ organization, SPARTA Pride, released a statement on Tuesday in support of the thousands of transgender soldiers who currently serve in vital positions in combat arms, aviation, nuclear engineering, law enforcement, and military intelligence—many of which call for years of specialized training and experience. Transgender soldiers have served in high-stakes operations, deployed to war zones, and proven their ability to boost morale and unit cohesiveness.
The statement goes on to say that although some transgender soldiers do undergo surgery, the recovery period and expense are low, and the procedure is planned to avoid interfering with deployments or mission readiness (all of which are comparable to a minor knee surgery that is not an emergency). Service members who identify as transgender have the same physical capabilities and preparedness as other service members.
The Congressional Equality Caucus members called Trump’s move “shameful beyond belief.”
Millions of dollars have been spent by our military to train these courageous Americans who volunteered to serve their country. Caucus chair Rep. Mark Takano, a Democrat from California, said in a statement Tuesday that President Trump is illegally and unconstitutionally calling for them to be removed from office because he doesn’t like who they are, despite their sacrifices.
In a separate order issued Monday evening, the president directed Hegseth and Kristi Noem, the newly appointed Homeland Security Secretary, to eliminate all DEI offices in their departments as well as any traces of DEI offices, including sub-offices, programs, elements, or initiatives created to support a system of racial preferences that undermines meritocracy, upholds unconstitutional discrimination, and fosters divisive ideas or gender ideology.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion are shortened to DEI. The executive order issued by the Trump administration was named Restoring America’s Fighting Force.
Hegseth and Noem have 30 days to provide instructions on shutting down the offices and stopping the illegal activity. They have 180 days to update the White House on their progress.
The directive lists a number of programs that must end, including the promotion or teaching of any divisive ideas about sex or ethnicity at military educational institutions, among other things it deems un-American.
