Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s push to eliminate so-called “beardos” from the armed forces is drawing criticism from service members who say the policy tramples religious freedoms and disproportionately targets Black men, Muslims, Sikhs, and pagans. What Hegseth frames as discipline and toughness, critics say, is exclusion and discrimination packaged as military tradition.

“The feeling is, ‘shave your beard or get out.’ People are associating not shaving with laziness. It’s not laziness, it’s my constitutionally protected religious right,” said a practicing Hanafi Muslim service member currently on active duty.

The service member, who spoke to The Intercept on condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation, said he renounced his citizenship in his country of origin in the Middle East to enlist in the U.S. Air Force, believing the branch would uphold the constitutional freedoms its members swear to defend.

“Before joining, I had a shaving waiver assigned to me because of my faith. I never shaved during basic training or tech school, and now it feels like I’m going to be kicked out,” the Hanafi practitioner said. “I’ve personally helped four other Muslims enlist in the military and promised their religious freedoms would be protected. Now it doesn’t feel that way, and that matters to me.”

In years past, federal courts have

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