President Trump on Monday night signed an executive order that is expected to eventually disqualify transgender individuals from serving or enlisting in the military on grounds of mental unfitness.
The order does not immediately bar transgender individuals from serving in the military, but directs the Pentagon to develop a policy on transgender service members within 30 days that prioritizes readiness. The current policy, according to the order, is “inconsistent with the medical, surgical, and mental health constraints on individuals with gender dysphoria.”
Gender dysphoria, the order states, is a mental condition that comes with bodily consequences that are incompatible with active duty and “conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life.” Those struggling with it “cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service,” the order states.
The order also reverses the Biden administration’s policy of allowing existing trans service members to receive coverage for transition-related medical procedures and bars those service members from sharing bathrooms, bedrooms, and changing areas with members of the opposite sex.
On his first day in office, Trump signed an order revoking the Biden administration’s 2021 directive that allowed transgender people to serve in the military while his administration prepared more comprehensive guidance. The new order explains that admitting trans soldiers is a liability to military lethality, which is necessary to protect and defend America from foreign enemies. Those who receive so-called treatment for gender dysphoria often become permanent patients of a medical industry, signing up for lifetime follow-up appointments that jeopardize deployability, or the ability of a service member to be deployed at sudden notice when duty calls.
The order points out that transgender individuals often seek medical procedures that leave them physically unable to perform for extended periods.
The order notes that transgenderism is also a mental illness that can interfere with military performance. Transgender risk of suicide is also a significant concern, as 81% of transgender adults in the U.S. have thought about suicide and 42 percent of transgender adults have attempted it, according to a 2023 study from the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law.
“To ensure we have the most lethal fighting force in the world, we will get transgender ideology the hell out of our military,” Trump said at a retreat with House Republicans on Monday. “It’s going to be gone.”
The Pentagon, now led by former Fox News host and Army veteran Pete Hegseth, will execute the order.
Taxpayers have also for years been forced to subsidize the treatment of transgender soldiers. Between 2016 and 2021, the Pentagon spent $15 million to treat 1,892 transgender troops, including $11.5 million for psychotherapy and $3.1 million for 243 surgeries, according to Defense Department data provided to Military.com.
Trump first enacted the restriction on trans service members during his first term in 2017, but former president Biden rescinded the rule in 2021. Under the new order, the Secretary of Defense is directed to ban the “use of invented and identification-based pronouns” in the armed forces, ban men and women from sharing sleeping quarters and restroom facilities, and “update all Department of Defense medical standards to ensure they prioritize readiness and lethality.”
Trump also signed a second order Monday night directing Hegseth to root out DEI from the Pentagon. The directive bans any “race- or sex-based preferences system” that exists in any branch of the military as it related to hiring and/or promotions.
“As Chief Executive and as Commander in Chief, I am committed to meritocracy and to the elimination of race-based and sex-based discrimination within the Armed Forces of the United States,” The order reads. “No individual or group within our Armed Forces should be preferred or disadvantaged on the basis of sex, race, ethnicity, color, or creed.”
“Unfortunately, in recent years civilian and uniformed leadership alike have implemented Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs and their attendant race and sex preferences within the Armed Forces,” it continued. “These actions undermine leadership, merit, and unit cohesion, thereby eroding lethality and force readiness. They also violate Americans’ consciences by engaging in invidious race and sex discrimination.”