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Transgender US service members will be separated from military, Pentagon memo says

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(WASHINGTON) — Transgender U.S. service members will be separated from the military unless they receive an exemption, according to a new Pentagon policy disclosed in a court filing on Wednesday.

According to the memo, the Pentagon must create a procedure to identify troops who are transgender by March 26 and orders that the separation of individuals diagnosed with gender dysphoria must be completed by June 25.

Those to be separated from the military will include service members receiving some form of treatment or hormones for that diagnosis of gender dysphoria or who have gone through a gender-affirming surgery.

The new policy was included as an exhibit in the federal case of Talbott v. Trump, a federal lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s Jan. 27 executive order that rolled back the previous policy allowing transgender service members to serve in the military.

“Military service by Service members and applicants for military service who have a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria is incompatible with military service,” the memo said.

“Service by these individuals is not in the best interests of the Military Services and is not clearly consistent with the interests of national security,” said the memo.

“Individuals who have a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria are no longer eligible for military service,” it added.

The service members who will be separated will receive honorable discharges unless their record indicates they should receive a lower-level discharge. Receiving an honorable discharge means they would be able to receive benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

“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,” according to the memo.

The new policy will allow certain exemptions from separation or allow enlistment on a case-by-case basis separation if they can provide that “there is a compelling Government interest in retaining the Service member that directly supports warfighting capabilities.”

Current service members can also apply for an exemption if they can prove that they have been stable in their sex for three months “without clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning,” and that they never attempted to transition to another sex; and will adhere to all standards for the service member’s sex.

On Feb. 7, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a memo that lifted the Pentagon’s previous policy on transgender service and said the U.S. military would no longer allow transgender individuals to join and would stop performing or facilitating procedures associated with gender dysphoria. He also set a timeline for the Pentagon to develop an implementation plan for the new policy.

There are currently 4,240 active-duty, Guard and Reserve service members who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, according to a defense official.

Since 2014, the total number of diagnoses for gender dysphoria was 5,773 with 1,000 of those having gone through gender-affirming surgery. The total costs for treatments, hormones and surgeries during that time frame was $52 million, said the official.

There are about 2.1 million service members in the U.S. military — and about 1.3 million of them are on active duty.

 

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