Defense Secretary Pauses Recruitment of New Transgender Military Service Members, Stops Funding Transition Surgeries

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth issued a Department of Defense (DoD)-wide memo on Friday, officially banning the recruitment of new transgender-identifying military service members, and implementing a January 27 executive order from President Donald Trump.

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“Effective immediately, all new accessions for individuals with a history of gender dysphoria are paused, and all unscheduled, scheduled or planned medical procedures associated with affirming or facilitating a gender transition for Service members are paused,” said Secretary Hegseth in his memo.

Hegseth’s new memo points out that, in order for the DoD to fulfill its mission, service members need to be both physically and mentally fit. According to the new policy, soldiers with a history of gender dysphoria presenting themselves as the opposite sex “cannot meet those rigorous standards.”

Under former President Joe Biden’s Administration, U.S. taxpayers were forced to fund transgender surgeries for service members. Under Hegseth’s DoD, service members are prohibited from undergoing any transgender procedures, such as genital reassignment surgery, and are forbidden from starting new hormone therapy regimens intended to facilitate a transition.

The memo does not specify what the military’s policy regarding existing transgender-identifying service members will be, though the it does state that the Administration believes that people with gender dysphoria cannot meet the DoD’s standards, specifically citing the late January executive order.

Nevertheless, Hegseth promised that military members with gender dysphoria would be treated with dignity.

“Individuals with gender dysphoria have volunteered to serve our country, and will be treated with dignity and respect,” said Hegseth.

The Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, Darin Selnick, will have the authority to issue rules on transgender-identifying service members already in the military.

The new DoD policy brings the department into compliance with President Trump’s order clarifying the military’s mission of lethality and merit, and ends the Biden-era policies facilitating transgenderism in the armed forces.

“A man’s assertion that he is a woman, and his requirement that others honor this falsehood, is not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member,” said Trump in his order.