President-elect Donald Trump is reportedly planning to sign an executive order that would ban trans-identified soldiers from serving the the US Armed Forces. His nominee for Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, has said that transgender soldiers were not fit to serve in combat positions because they are dependent on drugs, such as cross-sex hormones, in order to function.
The Times, citing anonymous sources in the defense department and military, said that approximately 15,000 active service personnel who are transgender would be medically discharged on January 20. Additionally, people who identify as transgender would be prevented from joining the military. Currently, the US Armed Forces pays for sex change surgeries for soldiers.
The ban is expected to be more comprehensive than a similar order he made during his first term in office. Trump previously would not allow transgender people to join the military but allowed those who were serving to remain. Upon taking office, President Joe Biden rescinded the order.
According to the Pentagon, approximately 2,200 service members had been diagnosed with gender dysphoria in 2021, but accurate numbers of how many people identify as transgender in the military are difficult to gather because of privacy rights. According to the outlet, Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has noted that gender dysphoria treatment and transgender surgeries are an extravagance the Pentagon cannot afford.
Paulo Batista, a transgender analyst in the US Navy, claimed that the ban and dismissal would compound the recruiting crisis in the US military. "I have four years left on my contract. But you take 15,000 of us out — there’s more but that’s the number that is always mentioned — that’s 15,000 leadership positions, every one of us play a vital role. There are junior enlisted personnel to high-end officers. You pull one of us out, that means others have to cover. These jobs could take months or even years to fill."
Batista claimed “There is no money being spent,” on gender dysphoria treatment, “its just continued care. People enlisting are just slightly hormone deficient, but the bigger picture is how many other people are going to be affected. Kicking out the 15,000 would affect the whole fleet, the whole battalion. It’s everyone.”
Republicans, as well as Hegseth, have previously pointed to “wokeness” in the military as causing challenges in recruiting, that many prime candidates do not want to serve in an armed forces that seem more interested in diversity, equity, and inclusion than protecting the US.
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