Up to 1,000 transgender troops will be kicked out of the military in the next 28 days. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth set a deadline for the Pentagon to discharge those troops by June 6. He posted on X that his department is leaving “wokeness and weakness behind.”
Hegseth added that the Trump administration's policy is "what the American people voted for."
This decision comes days after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of allowing the transgender ban to go into effect while legal challenges work their way through the courts.
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President Donald Trump issued an executive order banning transgender individuals from serving in the military. The order argued that the presence of transgender service members “conflicts with the soldier’s commitment” and harms military readiness.
In March, U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle—a George W. Bush appointee—ruled in favor of transgender service members challenging the policy, stating that discharging them would damage their careers and reputations.
An Obama-era policy implemented in 2016 allowed transgender individuals to serve openly. However, during Trump’s first term, he reversed that policy, issuing a ban that allowed exceptions for active-duty service members who had already begun the transitioning process.
When President Joe Biden took office, the ban was rescinded.
Thousands of transgender individuals serve in the military, though they make up less than 1% of the total active-duty personnel.
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GLAAD’s President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis called the Supreme Court's decision a "disgrace."
"Allowing this discriminatory ban to go into effect is out of step with the views of the American people, compromises military readiness, and will make America less safe. America’s brave service members and their families deserve to be treated with dignity and respect," she said.
