Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inboxGet our free Inside Washington emailGet our free Inside Washington emailPresident Donald Trump’s purge of trans people in the military has taken a new turn, with many personnel finding themselves trapped by their previous moves to comply with restrictions imposed on them in the president’s first administration.In 2017, during his first term in office, Trump announced that the U.S. government would not allow transgender people to serve in the military.If a trans person was already serving, they had two options: leave or get a medical diagnosis for gender dysphoria — distress experienced by a person when their internal sense of gender identity conflicts with the sex they were assigned at birth.Once they had that documented by a doctor, they could continue to serve their country.When President Joe Biden took office in 2021, the ban on trans people serving in the military was repealed, and the matter appeared to be settled.Trans service personnel are facing tough choices as the Trump administration seeks to remove them from the military (Middle East Images)Upon Trump’s return to office this year, the medical diagnosis that many trans service members had received during his first term is now being used against them — indeed, the Pentagon effectively has a list of trans personnel.Further, upon Trump’s re-election, many assumed the terms of the first ban would be the same and made appointments for a diagnosis in the hope of being grandfathered in before a new ban was imposed.In May, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth ordered military officials to “immediately” review medical records for transgender service members to begin removing them from service.Service members will also be asked whether they experience gender dysphoria in their annual health exams, according to a Pentagon memo.Routine exams will be “the primary method” for identifying and removing trans service members — or “service members who have a current diagnosis or history of” or are “exhibiting symptoms” of gender dysphoria, according to the memo.Commanders who are “aware” of service members “with gender dysphoria, a history of gender dysphoria or symptoms consistent with gender dysphoria” must perform “individualized medical record reviews,” the memo states.As trans troops begin to navigate an early exit from the military, some believe that recent moves by the U.S. Air Force have added insult to injury.In early August, the Air Force announced it would deny early retirement benefits to transgender troops and was beginning to revoke already approved requests. Service members with 15 to 18 years of service typically would qualify for those benefits automatically.Trans service members will face a choice between taking a lump-sum separation payment offered to junior troops or being removed from the service — if they try to stay and fight removal, they get nothing.In addition to the benefits being revoked, the Air Force also recently announced that transgender personnel will no longer have the opportunity to argue before a board of their peers for the right to continue serving.The separation boards “must recommend separation of the member” if the airman has a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, according to a memo issued on August 12.Trump’s anti-trans policies have been a signature part of his political life, featuring in many of his speeches and rallies. As recently as Monday morning, while delivering remarks to the White House Religious Liberty Commission at the Museum of the Bible, the president spoke about getting “men out of women’s sports” and banning the “chemical and surgical mutilation” of children.
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Trump asked trans troops to get an official diagnosis. Now he’s using it to kick them out
