Trump signs order barring transgender-identifying soldiers from military service
An aerial view of the Pentagon, Washington, D.C., May 11, 2021. / Credit: Air Force Staff Sgt. Brittany A. Chase, DOD, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jan 28, 2025 / 13:55 pm (CNA).
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday to end “radical gender ideology” in the military, reversing former President Joe Biden’s directive that allowed soldiers who identify as transgender to serve in the armed forces.
The Jan. 27 order, effective in 30 days, states that any person who expresses “a false ‘gender identity’ divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service.” It adds that “military service must be reserved for those mentally and physically fit for duty.”
The executive order states that Biden’s policy to permit individuals with gender dysphoria to serve in the military is “inconsistent with the medical, surgical, and mental health constraints on individuals with gender dysphoria.”
According to a Congressional Research Service report updated Jan. 10, the Department of Defense spent about $ 15 million on gender transition services for active duty members of the military from Jan. 1, 2016, through May 14, 2021. The document does not report how much the department spent on those services under the Biden administration, which instituted a policy to provide “medically necessary” coverage for gender transitions.
Also effective in 30 days, all sleeping, changing, and bathing facilities will be separated on the basis of biological sex, regardless of a person’s self-asserted gender identity. This rule includes an exception for situations in which there is an “extraordinary operational necessity” not to have certain facilities separated.
Another provision directs the newly confirmed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to issue a directive in the military to end the use of pronouns that are inconsistent with a person’s biological sex.
Trump’s order notes that long-standing Department of Defense policy ensures that members of the military are free from medical conditions that will likely require excessive time lost from duty and that policies consider certain mental health struggles as incompatible with active duty.
“Beyond the hormonal and surgical medical interventions involved, adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual’s sex conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life,” the order states. “A man’s assertion that he is a woman, and his requirement that others honor this falsehood, is not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member.”
“It is the policy of the United States government to establish high standards for troop readiness, lethality, cohesion, honesty, humility, uniformity, and integrity,” it adds.
The primary mission of the military, according to the order, is “to protect the American people and our homeland as the world’s most lethal and effective fighting force.”
“Success in this existential mission requires a singular focus on developing the requisite warrior ethos, and the pursuit of military excellence cannot be diluted to accommodate political agendas or other ideologies harmful to unit cohesion,” the text adds.
Ending DEI and other military executive orders
In addition to revising the Department of Defense’s gender policies, the president signed three other executive orders regarding the military on Monday, including one that ends diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
The DEI executive order refers to the practice as “race and sex preferences within the armed forces.”
“These actions undermine leadership, merit, and unit cohesion, thereby eroding lethality and force readiness,” the order states. “They also violate Americans’ consciences by engaging in invidious race and sex discrimination.”
Another executive order reinstates members of the military who were discharged for refusing to receive a vaccine for COVID-19. The order also provides back pay and benefits to those who were removed from duty for that reason.
A fourth executive order seeks to bolster the country’s missile defense system.
