Transgender service members will be separated from the U.S. military by June unless they receive an exemption, according to a Feb. 26 Pentagon policy memorandum.
“It is the policy of the United States Government to establish high standards for Service member readiness, lethality, cohesion, honesty, humility, uniformity, and integrity,” the memo reads. “This policy is inconsistent with the medical, surgical, and mental health constraints on individuals with gender dysphoria or who have a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria.”
The memo says that the Pentagon must create a procedure and implement steps to identify troops who have a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria by no later than March 26.
By June 25, the Pentagon must begin “separation actions” for those individuals, according to the memo.
Waivers for such troops may be considered on a case-by-case basis provided there is a “compelling government interest in retaining the service member that directly supports warfighting capabilities,” the memo states.
Military members may obtain such a waiver by demonstrating that they have not attempted to “transition” to a sex that is not their biological sex.
They may also receive a waiver by showing “36 consecutive months of stability in the service member’s sex without clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.”
Additionally, such members may keep their jobs if they are “willing and able to adhere to all applicable standards, including the standards associated with the Service member’s sex.”
The memo was issued by the official performing the duties of the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness.
Transgender Military Members Declare Ban Unconstitutional
The memo was in response to a lawsuit filed in Washington in January by six active service members and two people seeking to enlist in the military. They argue Trump’s order violates the equal protection clause of the Fifth Amendment.Plaintiffs are asking the court to declare the exclusion of transgender people from military service unconstitutional and issue permanent injunctive relief preventing the order from being implemented.
Trump’s January executive order states that expressing a “false ‘gender identity’ divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service,” and that doing so “conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life.”
“A man’s assertion that he is a woman, and his requirement that others honor this falsehood, is not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member,” the order states.
The order directs Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to issue a revised policy and end “invented and identification-based pronoun usage” that inaccurately reflects an individual’s sex within 60 days.
It also mandates stricter separation between male and female service members in sleeping, dressing, and bathing.
