US President-elect Donald Trump plans to issue an executive order that will lead to the dismissal of all transgender servicemen from the ranks of the US armed forces, The Times reports, citing sources.
There are about 15,000 transgender people among active servicemen and they will be dismissed on medical grounds as unfit for service.
According to The Times, the new executive order will be stricter than the previous one issued during Trump’s first presidential term in March 2018 (Joe Biden reversed his predecessor’s decision in January 2021). Back then, the Republican banned transgender people from joining the military and allowed transgender people already serving to continue serving, but this time around, even those who have made a career in the Armed Forces will be discharged.
‘These people will be forced to leave at a time when the Army can’t recruit enough people. Only the Marine Corps is meeting its recruitment figures and some of the people who will be affected are in very senior positions,’ the source told the publication.
As of 2019, the number of transgender service members in the US military was about 14,700. In 2021, gender dysphoria was diagnosed in about 2.2 thousand servicemen. Gender dysphoria refers to a condition in transgenderism in which a person cannot fully accept their gender status. A total of 1.3 million people serve in the U.S. Armed Forces.
An accurate count of the number of transgender people in the military is hampered by the Pentagon’s privacy policy, the publication writes, and notes: it is assumed that there are thousands of other personnel who identify as transgender.
‘The sudden discharge of more than 15,000 service members, especially since the military failed to meet its recruitment goal of 41,000 recruits last year, increases the administrative burden on combat units, undermines unit cohesion, and exacerbates critical skills gaps,’ said Rachel Branaman, executive director of the Modern Military Association of America.
She foreshadowed the financial costs associated with the decision, the loss of experienced service members with leadership skills that will take ‘perhaps 20 years and billions of dollars’ to replace.
Transgender people received the right to serve in the US Armed Forces on 30 June 2016, the corresponding order was signed by then-President Barack Obama. Trump’s second presidential term will begin at the end of January 2025.
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