Donald Trump is planning an executive order that would lead to the removal of all transgender members of the US military, defence sources say.
The order could come on his first day back in the White House, January 20. There are believed to be about 15,000 active service personnel who are transgender. They would be medically discharged, which would determine that they were unfit to serve.
It would also lead to a ban on trans people joining the military and would come at a time when almost all branches of the American armed forces are failing to meet recruitment targets.
Trump, 78, has railed against “woke” practices in the military, saying that some high-ranking officers are often more interested in diversity, equity and inclusion than planning to fight.
The ban is expected to be wider ranging than a similar order made during his first term in office, when Trump prevented transgender people joining the armed forces, but allowed those already serving to keep their jobs. President Biden rescinded the order, but this time even those with decades of service will be removed from their posts, according to several sources.
“These people will be forced out at a time when the military can’t recruit enough people,” a source familiar with Trump’s plans said. “Only the Marine Corps is hitting its numbers for recruitment and some people who will be affected are in very senior positions.”
According to the Pentagon, privacy policies make it difficult to measure the number of active duty trans people, but about 2,200 service members had been diagnosed with gender dysphoria in 2021, when Trump’s first ban was lifted. There are about 1.3 million active duty personnel in the military.
There are believed to be thousands of other personnel who identify as transgender.
Military charities that fought the trans ban during Trump’s first term are aware of his plans for a similar move by the incoming administration.
“Should a trans ban be implemented from day one of the Trump administration it would undermine the readiness of the military and create an even greater recruitment and retention crisis, not to mention signalling vulnerability to America’s adversaries,” said Rachel Branaman, executive director of Modern Military Association of America, which campaigns on behalf of LGBTQ+ military personnel and veterans.
“Abruptly discharging 15,000-plus service members, especially given that the military’s recruiting targets fell short by 41,000 recruits last year, adds administrative burdens to war fighting units, harms unit cohesion, and aggravates critical skill gaps,” she said. “There would be a significant financial cost, as well as a loss of experience and leadership that will take possibly 20 years and billions of dollars to replace.”
Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee for defence secretary, has railed against the military’s “weak” leadership
NATHAN HOWARD/REUTERS
Trump has nominated Pete Hegseth, 44, as his defence secretary. The Fox News host and former major in the US National Guard has publicly railed against “weak” and “effeminate” leadership in the military and argued in a recent book that “the next commander in chief will need to clean house”.
He has also said that medical care for transgender personnel is an extravagance the Pentagon cannot afford, adding that focusing on the issues that affect only a small number of people in the military is an example of “trans lunacy”.
Trans people already serving in the military say that as well as causing them significant personal hardship, a new ban would be disastrous for the armed forces.
“There are very few members of my career field with this experience, and in the event of a large-scale contingency, it would be difficult to replace the level of experience that I bring to the table,” said a serving US air force non-commissioned officer, who preferred not to give their name.
Paulo Batista, a transgender analyst in the US navy, said that a ban would not only put a premature end to his career, it would also cause upheaval across the forces.
“I have four years left on my contract,” he said. “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 dismissed another argument made by those opposed to trans people serving in the military: that the Pentagon had to cover spiralling costs of gender dysphoria treatment.
“There is no money being spent, it’s just continued care,” he said. “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.”
Karoline Leavitt, the Trump-Vance transition spokeswoman, said: “These unnamed sources are speculating and have no idea what they are actually talking about. No decisions on this issue have been made. No policy should ever be deemed official unless it comes directly from President Trump or his authorised spokespeople.”
