The United States military will start removing transgender soldiers from service within 30 days unless they are granted a waiver, according to a memo from the Pentagon released on Wednesday.
This follows an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in late January aimed at banning transgender individuals from serving in the military.
The memo stated, “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.”
However, it added that these soldiers could apply for a waiver on a case-by-case basis if there is a “compelling government interest in retaining the service member that directly supports warfighting capabilities.”
To qualify for a waiver, transgender soldiers must show they have never attempted to transition and must demonstrate “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.”
This move marks another shift in US military policy regarding transgender individuals. In 2016, under former President Barack Obama, the military lifted the ban on transgender soldiers, allowing them to serve openly. The policy also included plans to start accepting transgender recruits by July 1, 2017.
However, when Trump came into office, he delayed the date to 2018 and eventually reversed the policy entirely. After several court battles, his restrictions on transgender military service took effect in April 2019.
When President Joe Biden took office in 2021, he quickly signed an order reversing Trump’s ban, stating that “all Americans qualified to serve should be able to do so.”
Now, with Trump’s recent return to office, his new executive order argues that, “Expressing a false ‘gender identity’ divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service.”
The issue of transgender rights has sparked heated political debate in the US, with Democratic-led states pushing for more inclusive policies, while Republican-controlled states move in the opposite direction, restricting access to medical care and even regulating what books on transgender topics can be available in schools and public libraries.
