The Department of Defense under Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered military officials to “immediately” review medical records for transgender service members to begin removing them from service.
Service members will also be asked whether they experience gender dysphoria in their annual health exams, according to a newly released Pentagon memo.
The memo from the Pentagon’s acting head of personnel follows an order from a divided Supreme Court that allows Donald Trump’s administration to continue banning trans service members despite court rulings that found the measure plainly discriminatory.
Routine exams will be “the primary method” for identifying and removing trans service members — or “service members who have a current diagnosis or history of” or are “exhibiting symptoms” of gender dysphoria, according to the memo.
Commanders who are “aware” of service members “with gender dysphoria, a history of gender dysphoria or symptoms consistent with gender dysphoria” must perform “individualized medical record reviews,” the memo states.
“From the beginning this policy has been implemented in a rushed and chaotic manner that is completely unnecessary and deeply disrespectful to these servicemembers, who deserve at the very least clear information and an orderly process so that they can make informed decisions that will have such a profound effect on their lives and their families,” NCLR legal director Shannon Minter said in a statement to The Independent.
The new guidance “raises more questions than it answers, including about exactly how transgender service members are to be identified and what it is that they are supposed to do,” he added.
“It is also deeply concerning that the separation codes that this guidance indicates will appear on the records of officers who are involuntarily separated will create the false impression that they are some sort of risk to national security,” Minter said. “This is grossly untrue and will needlessly limit their civilian employment opportunities."
The president’s January directive claims the “adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual’s sex conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life.”
Subsequent Defense Department guidance claimed 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.”
In February, Washington, D.C. District Judge Ana Reyes condemned the president’s “demeaning,” “biologically inaccurate” and “frankly ridiculous” language in an executive order that revoked federal recognition of trans, nonbinary and intersex people. Trump’s ban on transgender people in the nation’s military is “soaked in animus,” she wrote.
And in March, George W. Bush-appointed District Judge Benjamin Settle said Trump’s transgender military policy “plainly” discriminates and is not backed by any evidence to support the claims behind it.
Roughly 4,200 people with gender dysphoria are serving across the U.S. military.
About 1,000 trans troops have voluntarily identified themselves to begin their removal, according to military officials.
Active-duty service members have until June 6 to identify themselves, and reserve members have until July 7. If they miss that deadline and face involuntary removal from service, they will receive fewer benefits, according to officials.
The Supreme Court’s ruling earlier this month pauses Judge Settle’s order that blocked the ban while the legal challenges continue. But attorneys for 32 trans service members and recruits who are separately suing in Washington, D.C. argued that the Supreme Court’s order is not binding in that court.
They told a federal appeals court that “recent statements by Secretary Hegseth underscore that the ban was motivated by anti-transgender animus, not by the medical considerations advanced by the government,” after Hegseth said the military is “leaving wokeness and weakness behind,” including “dudes in dresses.”
“The American people are sick of cowardly doublespeak coming out of this administration,” attorneys said in a statement. “Secretary Hegseth’s comments about transgender troops are a disgrace to the military and all those who serve.”
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