The United States will remove transgender troops from the military unless they obtain a waiver on a case-by-case basis, according to a Pentagon memo released on Wednesday.
The memo made public on February 26 as part of a court filing regarding President Donald Trump's executive order from late January, aims to bar military service by transgender personnel.
The memo states, "Service members who have a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria will be processed for separation from military service."
These troops may be "considered for a waiver on a case-by-case basis, provided there is a compelling government interest in retaining the service member that directly supports warfighting capabilities," it further notes.
To obtain such a waiver, service members must show they have never attempted to transition and demonstrate "36 consecutive months of stability in the service member's sex without clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning."
An earlier Pentagon memo issued this month barred transgender individuals from joining the military and halted gender transition treatment for those already in uniform.
The latest memo also specifies that "applicants for military service... who have a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria are disqualified for military service." This also applies to individuals with "a history of cross-sex hormone therapy or sex reassignment or genital reconstruction surgery as treatment for gender dysphoria."
Disqualified applicants may obtain a waiver if there is a "compelling government interest" in their joining the military and they are "willing and able to adhere to all applicable standards, including the standards associated with the applicant's sex."
Transgender Americans have faced fluctuating policies regarding military service over recent years, as Democratic administrations have aimed to allow open service while Trump sought to exclude them from the ranks.
The US military lifted a ban on transgender troops in 2016 under President Barack Obama, allowing trans troops already serving to do so openly and preparing to accept transgender recruits by July 1, 2017.
However, the first Trump administration postponed that date to 2018 before ultimately reversing the policy. The controversial restrictions implemented by Trump faced legal challenges before finally taking effect in April 2019 after a lengthy battle that reached the Supreme Court.
In January 2021, Trump's Democratic successor, Joe Biden, moved to reverse these restrictions, stating that all qualified Americans should be able to serve.
After returning to office, Trump issued an executive order targeting transgender troops once again, asserting that "expressing a false 'gender identity' divergent from an individual's sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service."
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