Hegseth moves to implement Trump's ban on transgender troops

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has directed the military to pause integrating new transgender recruits and suspend planned medical procedures meant to treat current service members diagnosed with gender dysphoria in compliance with an executive order signed by President Trump that effectively bans trans military service.

“The Department must ensure it is building ‘One Force’ without subgroups defined by anything other than ability or mission adherence. Efforts to split our troops along the lines of identity weaken our Force and make us vulnerable. Such efforts must not be tolerated or accommodated,” Hegseth wrote in a memorandum for senior Pentagon leadership, commanders of the combatant commands and Defense agency and DoD field activity directors dated Friday and unreported until now.

The one-page memo is the latest step in implementing Trump’s order barring transgender people from serving openly in the military, part of a broader effort to combat what the administration has described as “gender insanity” in the federal government.

The Jan. 27 order, titled "Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness," states, “Expressing a false ‘gender identity’ divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for Military Service.”

“Effective immediately, all new accessions for individuals with a history of gender dysphoria are paused, and all unscheduled, scheduled, or planned medical procedures associated with affirming or facilitating a gender transition for Service members are paused,” Hegseth wrote.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed the memo as part of a lawsuit challenging Trump’s order. The plaintiffs in that case, six transgender active-duty service members and two individuals seeking to enlist in the military, had requested the department notify them whenever the administration issued guidance on implementing the executive order.

DOJ identified three additional memos from the Navy, Air Force and Army directing recruiters to reject transgender applicants, and another memo from Hegseth dated Jan. 31 that instructs DoD to take steps to implement the order.

“Biological sex is an immutable characteristic,” Hegseth wrote in the Jan. 31 memo. “It is not fluid, and it cannot transform. Gender ideology denies this fundamental reality, and places women at risk by allowing biological males to gain access to intimate, single-sex spaces.”

Two federal lawsuits argue Trump’s executive order preventing transgender troops from serving is unconstitutional.

“The assertion that transgender service members like myself are inherently untrustworthy or lack honor is an insult to all who have dedicated their lives to defending this country,” said Cmdr. Emily Shilling, the lead plaintiff in one of the cases. “My nearly two decades of service as a naval aviator and test pilot, routinely selected for the most challenging leadership roles, with 60 combat missions and over 1,700 flight hours in high-performance jets, speaks for itself.”

SPARTA Pride, an advocacy group for transgender service members of which Shilling is president, estimates between 15,000 and 25,000 transgender troops are serving, accounting for just over 1 percent of the armed forces.

According to a Congressional Research Service report updated in January, the Defense Department spent roughly $15 million on surgical and non-surgical care for 1,892 transgender active-duty service members between 2016 and 2021. Of that amount, $11.5 million was spent on psychotherapy and $3.1 million on surgeries, according to Military.com, citing department data obtained by the outlet.

Since taking office on Jan. 20, Trump has sig several orders broadly targeting transgender rights, including one meant to end federal support for gender-affirming care for children and adolescents younger than 19 and another declaring the federal government recognizes only two sexes, male and female. An order signed Wednesday seeks to prohibit transgender athletes from competing on girls and women’s sports teams, a directive that could complicate the nation’s role as host of the next Summer Olympics.

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