U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has directed the Pentagon to begin discharging transgender service members who do not choose to voluntarily separate from the military by June 6.
The new directive, revealed in a memo obtained by Reuters, gives active-duty transgender troops until that date to self-identify for voluntary separation. Those serving in the reserves have until July. After those deadlines, the military will move forward with involuntary discharges.
The order follows a recent Supreme Court decision that cleared the way for a ban on transgender military service to take effect—reinstating a key campaign promise Trump emphasized during his return to the White House. The court’s ruling removed previous legal barriers that had protected transgender troops serving openly, a policy put in place under former President Joe Biden.
Trump wasted no time after returning to office in January, signing an executive order that redefined the federal government’s stance on gender—recognizing only male and female as biological sexes and rejecting gender identity as a basis for policy.
Transgender rights advocates quickly denounced the Pentagon’s move, calling it discriminatory and harmful to military readiness. They argue that qualified service members who meet physical and professional standards should not be forced out based on gender identity.
The policy shift reverses nearly four years of inclusion under the Biden administration, which had allowed transgender Americans to enlist and serve openly. Biden had also rescinded Trump’s original 2017 transgender military ban shortly after taking office in 2021.
Now, with Trump back in the Oval Office and Hegseth overseeing the Pentagon, the administration is acting swiftly to enforce its revised gender and military policies. The Department of Defense has not yet issued an official public statement in response to the memo.
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