Pentagon ordered to identify transgender soldiers

The US military and the Pentagon must determine within 30 days how they will find and identify transgender soldiers and what process they will follow to remove them from the military.

This challenging task may depend on soldiers self-reporting or informing on their colleagues.

A memorandum sent to Department of Defense officials on Thursday, following a note submitted by the Pentagon late Wednesday in response to a lawsuit, ordered the military to establish procedures by March 26 to identify soldiers diagnosed with or receiving treatment for “gender dysphoria” (gender identity disorder).

They will then have 30 days to begin removing these soldiers from the military.

This order expands the presidential executive order signed by President Donald Trump shortly after taking office, which outlined steps to ban transgender individuals from serving in the military. That order had been challenged in court.

A senior defense official said Thursday that they believe there are currently about 4,200 soldiers diagnosed with “gender dysphoria” on active duty, in the National Guard, and the Reserve Forces.

The official, who did not want to be named to discuss personnel matters, said the total cost for psychotherapy, gender-affirming hormone therapy, gender-affirming surgeries, and other treatments between 2015 and 2024 was approximately $52 million.

Approximately 2.1 million soldiers serve in the US military.

Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are working to eliminate them, arguing that their medical conditions do not meet military standards.

Under Secretary of Personnel Darin Selnick said in the new note, “The medical, surgical, and mental health limitations of individuals diagnosed with, having a history of, or demonstrating symptoms consistent with gender dysphoria are incompatible with the high mental and physical standards required for military service.”

The memorandum claims that the “lethality and integrity of the military” are “incompatible” with what transgender personnel experience during their transition to the gender they identify with, and states that gender is “immutable, fixed throughout a person’s life.”

Lawyers for six transgender soldiers who filed a lawsuit against Trump’s presidential executive order argued in court filings that the order explicitly expressed “hostility” towards transgender people and demeaned them in the eyes of other soldiers and the public by calling them “unequal and unnecessary.”

Sarah Warbelow, legal director for the Human Rights Campaign, said the new policy puts soldiers in a difficult position and forces transgender soldiers to reveal themselves.

Warbelow said, “Suddenly you’re going to have to out yourself. Other people are going to have to out you. If you have a best friend in the military who knows you’re transgender, under this new guidance, that friend, if you’re a transgender woman, is going to have to refer to you as [male pronoun] “he” and “sir” from today.”

Soldiers are “being forced to choose between the safety of their friends and not following direct orders,” Warbelow said, adding that transgender soldiers may feel pressured to reveal themselves because they know they could be punished if they do not.

On Thursday, US officials said that according to initial figures, approximately 600 transgender soldiers in the Navy, 300 to 500 in the Army, and fewer than 50 in the Marine Corps could be quickly identified. Officials acknowledged that individuals could be identified, for example, through documented medical treatments, and that this number would likely increase.

However, officials stated that the initial figures might be lower than the true total because some soldiers may have joined the military after transitioning and may not have undergone medical or surgical procedures that would identify them.

Officials also warned that they might be limited by health privacy laws regarding what they can distinguish from records and what they can report.

An independent study conducted in 2018 by the Palm Center, which researches LGBT issues, estimated that there were approximately 14,000 transgender soldiers among more than 2 million service members.

The Pentagon’s new policy provides for two exceptions: if transgender personnel seeking to enlist can prove on a case-by-case basis that they directly support combat operations, or if an existing soldier diagnosed with gender dysphoria can prove they support a specific combat need and have not transitioned to the gender they identify with, and can prove they have been stable in their biological sex for 36 months “without clinically significant distress.”

Gender dysphoria occurs when a person’s biological sex and gender identity do not align.

If an exemption is granted, the applicant will face situations such as recognition only of their biological sex in restrooms, barracks, and even formal address like “sir” or “ma’am.”

Warbelow said that transgender soldiers should wait for further clarification from the military and their commanders before taking any steps that could affect their military service, and also noted that ongoing lawsuits could affect this policy.