The U.S. military will discharge transgender troops in the coming weeks unless they are granted an individualized waiver, the Department of Defense announced in a memo that became public Wednesday.
“Service members who have a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria will be processed for separation from military service,” said a memo from the official performing the duties of the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness.
It specifically gave a 30-day deadline for senior leaders to “identify service members who have a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria” before beginning separation actions within 30 days of identification.
The memo was revealed in a court filing as a part of the legal challenge to President Donald Trump‘s executive order from last month directing the Pentagon to implement its own policies regarding the administration’s belief that identifying as transgender is incompatible with military service.
“The Department only recognizes two sexes: male and female. An individual’s sex is immutable, unchanging during a person’s life. All service members will only serve in accordance with their sex,” the memo said, adding that affected troops may be “considered for a waiver on a case-by-case basis, provided there is a compelling government interest in retaining the service member that directly supports warfighting capabilities.”
A transgender service member can stay in the military if they are able to prove they’ve gone through “36 consecutive months of stability” in their sex with no “clinically significant distress or impairment.” They also need to prove they have “never attempted to transition to any sex other than their sex” and have to be willing to adhere to “all applicable standards” relating to their sex.
Transgender advocates condemned the memo and have opposed the overarching policy since the first Trump administration.
“The assertion that gender dysphoria is incompatible with military service is both medically unsound and a blatant disregard for the proven capabilities and dedication of transgender individuals who have served and continue to serve with distinction,” the Modern Military Association of America, an LGBTQ military advocacy group, said in a statement Wednesday. “It sends a damaging message to the world about the values of the United States.”
PENTAGON BANS TRANS PEOPLE FROM ENLISTING, STOPS TRANSITION PROCEDURES
Earlier this month, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth issued a memo informing senior Department of Defense leaders that the department would stop accepting transgender individuals into the military and stop impending transition procedures.
The military does not have a specific tally for the number of transgender individuals in the military, though a 2018 independent study by the Palm Center, which researches such subjects, assessed that there were about 14,000 transgender troops.
The military lifted a ban on transgender troops in 2016 during the Obama administration. Trump reversed the policy following court battles in 2019, while his successor, former President Joe Biden, undid Trump’s reversal just days after taking office.