Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered a halt to transgender procedures for members of the military, according to a memorandum made public on Feb. 10.
The defense secretary also required a halt to accessions for people with a history of gender dysphoria, or the belief that they are a different gender from their sex at birth.
Both pauses are effective immediately.
Hegseth said in his memo that the Department of Defense “must ensure it is building ‘One Force’ without subgroups defined by anything other than ability or mission adherence” and that “efforts to split our troops along lines of identity weaken our Force and make us vulnerable.” He said that such efforts “must not be tolerated or accommodated.”
The memo implements President Donald Trump’s executive order that restricted openly transgender people from serving in the military. The order states that “the pursuit of military excellence cannot be diluted to accommodate political agendas or other ideologies harmful to unit cohesion” but that the military has recently “been afflicted with radical gender ideology to appease activists unconcerned with the requirements of military service like physical and mental health, selflessness, and unit cohesion.”
The previous military policy allowed transgender people to serve.
A group of servicemembers who say they’re transgender, together with two people who say they’re transgender and wish to accede to the military, quickly filed a lawsuit over the order. They said it violated the U.S. Constitution’s protection of equal rights for all.
They later filed a request for a preliminary injunction or temporary restraining order that would block the order as the case proceeds.
A hearing has been held, but no court ruling has yet been issued. Instead, the court told the government to notify it if any policy or guidance was issued to implement Trump’s order.
“In accordance with the Court’s order, Defendants will continue to update this list as additional policies or guidance are promulgated,” they stated in the filing.
