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Hegseth moves to implement Trump’s ban on transgender troops

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11.02.2025
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The Big Story

Hegseth moves to implement Trump’s ban on transgender troops

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has directed the military to pause integrating new transgender recruits and suspend planned medical procedures meant to treat current service members diagnosed with gender dysphoria.

© AP

The move is in compliance with an executive order signed by President Trump that effectively bans trans military service.

“The Department must ensure it is building ‘One Force’ without subgroups defined by anything other than ability or mission adherence. Efforts to split our troops along the lines of identity weaken our Force and make us vulnerable. Such efforts must not be tolerated or accommodated,” Hegseth wrote in a memorandum for senior Pentagon leadership, commanders of the combatant commands and Defense agency and DoD field activity directors dated Friday and unreported until now.

The one-page memo is the latest step in implementing Trump’s order barring transgender people from serving openly in the military, part of a broader effort to combat what the administration has described as “gender insanity” in the federal government.

The Jan. 27 order, titled “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness,” states, “Expressing a false ‘gender identity’ divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for Military Service.”

“Effective immediately, all new accessions for individuals with a history of gender dysphoria are paused, and all unscheduled, scheduled, or planned medical procedures associated with affirming or facilitating a gender transition for Service members are paused,” Hegseth wrote.

The Department of Justice filed the memo as part of a lawsuit challenging Trump’s order. The plaintiffs

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