Military Orders: Transgender Troops in the Crosshairs

The Pentagon has given military branches a tight deadline. They have 30 days to figure out how to identify transgender service members for removal. This task is huge and complicated. It might rely on troops self-reporting or colleagues reporting each other. The order comes from a memo sent to Defense Department leaders. It was filed late Wednesday as part of a response to a lawsuit. The memo tells the services to set up procedures to identify troops diagnosed with or being treated for gender dysphoria by March 26. They will then have 30 days to begin removing those troops from service. This order is part of a bigger plan. It expands on an executive order signed by President Donald Trump. The order aims to ban transgender individuals from serving in the military. This directive has been challenged in court. The initial counts of transgender troops are in the hundreds. This is a small fraction of the 2. 1 million troops serving. However, the issue has taken up a large part of the Pentagon’s attention and time. Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are working to root them out. They argue that their medical condition doesn’t meet military standards. The memo claims that the medical, surgical, and mental health constraints on individuals who have a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria are incompatible with the high mental and physical standards necessary for military service. It also claims that the lethality and integrity of the military “is inconsistent” with what transgender personnel go through as they transition to the gender they identify with. It issues an edict that gender is “immutable, unchanging during a person’s life. ” Lawyers for six transgender service members who are suing over Trump’s executive order have argued in court filings that his directive openly expresses “hostility” toward transgender people. It marks them as “unequal and dispensable, demeaning them in the eyes of their fellow service members and the public. ” The new policy puts service members in a difficult position. It pushes transgender troops to self-identify. If you’ve got a best friend in the military who happens to know that you are transgender, under this new guidance they’re required — if you are a woman who is transgender — they’re required to start referring to you as ‘he’ and ‘sir, ’ as of today.

Troops are put in the position of having to choose “between the safety of their friends and violating direct orders. ” Transgender service members may feel pressure to self-identify, knowing that they may be penalized by not coming forward. On Thursday, U. S. officials said early rough numbers suggest about 600 transgender troops can be quickly identified in the Navy and between 300 and 500 in the Army. Officials said those individuals could, for example, be identified by documented medical treatments. Other numbers were not available, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel issues. The officials noted, however, that the early numbers likely fall short of actual totals. Some service members may have joined the service after any transition and may not have had medical or surgical procedures that could identify them. And officials also have warned that they may be limited by health privacy laws on what they can and can’t discern or report from records. A 2018 independent study by the Palm Center, which researched LGBTQ issues, assessed there were an estimated 14, 000 transgender troops among the more than 2 million troops serving. The new Pentagon policy provides two exceptions. If transgender personnel who seek to enlist can prove on a case-by-case basis that they directly support warfighting activities, or if an existing service member, who was diagnosed with gender dysphoria, can prove they support a specific warfighting need and never transitioned to the gender they identify with and proves over 36 months they are stable in their biological sex “without clinically significant distress. ” Gender dysphoria occurs when a person’s biological sex does not match up with their gender identity. If a waiver is issued, the applicant would still face a situation where only their biological sex was recognized for bathroom facilities, sleeping quarters and even in official recognition, such as being called “Sir” or “Ma’am. ” Transgender troops should wait for additional clarity from the service and their commanding officers before doing anything that would affect their military service. Ongoing court cases could affect the policy.

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