President Trump is expected to sign two executive orders Monday booting transgender service members and eliminating Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs from the military, The Post has reported.
Trump had signed an order on his first day in office revoking the Biden administration’s 2021 directive that allowed trans people to serve openly in the military, but the incoming EOs will go further.
The Monday order will directly prohibit any service member who identifies as a gender other than their birth sex from serving or enlisting, on grounds of mental unfitness.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is directed to make and implement the policy after Trump signs the order.
“Unit cohesion requires high levels of integrity and stability among service members,” a White House document previewing the order on transgender soldiers reads.
There can be “no accommodation for anything less than resilience, strength, and the ability to withstand extraordinary physical demands,” it says.
“Individuals who are unable to meet these requirements are unable to serve in the military. This has been the case for decades,” the document says.
“It can take a minimum of 12 months for an individual to complete treatments after transition surgery, which often involves the use of heavy narcotics. During this period, they are not physically capable of meeting military readiness requirements and require ongoing medical care. This is not conducive for deployment or other readiness requirements.”
There are no current tallies of how many transgender service members are in the services, but a 2016 Defense Department survey estimated there were 8,980 active duty and 5,727 reserve troops who identified as transgender, according to a 2018 report by the Palm Center, a California-based think tank.
That included “1,850 transgender men (who joined the military as women) and 7,129 transgender women (who joined the military as men,)” the report said.
The Pentagon has spent more than $15 million on transgender medical for military personnel since Jan. 1, 2016 — though the practice was paused for a time during Trump’s first term.
The majority of those funds — about $11.5 million — were used for psychotherapy, while about $3.1 million went toward 243 gender reassignment surgeries, according to a 2021 report by Military.com.
In 2017, Trump announced via tweet that the US would no longer “accept or allow” transgender people to be in the military. His administration pursued the ban in 2018, but it was ended by a 2021 executive order signed by then-President Joe Biden.
Monday’s order also directs Hegseth to ban the “use of invented and identification-based pronouns” in the armed forces; prohibit biological males and females from sleeping, changing and using bathing facilities intended for the opposite sex; and “update all Department of Defense medical standards to ensure they prioritize readiness and lethality.”
The document also criticizes Biden for allowing the Department of Defense to embrace “gender insanity” and allow soldiers to serve while not being “physically or mentally prepared” — while also paying for their gender-altering medical treatments.
The Pentagon declined to comment on how long it would take to discharge transgender service members, but the military’s separation process generally takes several months.
The second order, addressing DEI in the armed forces, directs a ban on “discriminatory race- or sex-based preferences by any element of the Armed Forces, the Department of Defense, or the Department of Homeland Security.”
All instances of “discrimination” based on DEI practices will be subject to an internal review by Hegseth, the document reads, indicating that some “woke” generals that Trump has vowed to fire could be under question.
Former Coast Guard Commandant Linda Fagan, who once called Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) an “operational imperative,” was fired last week.
Chairman of the Joint Staff Gen. CQ Brown — who had previously spoken out in support of DEI initiatives and discussed his experience as a black airman — had previously been rumored to be a potential target, but Hegseth on Monday told reporters he was “looking forward to working with him.”
Current DEI practices are a “woke assault” on the military brought about by the Biden and Obama administrations and have led to low morale and the lowest recruiting numbers since 1940, the order documents argue.
Trump will also ban all bureaucratic bodies dedicated to DEI in the military — and will direct Hegseth and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to review all academic curricula in US service academies to flush them of “radical DEI and gender ideologies.”
“Today’s Order moves our military away from this dark period and renews esprit de corps, readiness, and focus. It returns the Pentagon to the warfighter,” the document regarding the DEI order says.
“This Order also combats ideologies that seek to divide our Armed Forces by race, sex or other immutable characteristics and thus tear at cohesion and military efficacy.”
Hegseth was narrowly confirmed by the Senate as defense secretary Friday night by a vote of 51-50, with Vice President JD Vance breaking the tie.
The new secretary’s initial message to the force, published Saturday, vows to deter China’s aggression and end wars around the world “responsibly” while reorienting to key threats.
“All of this will be done with a focus on lethality, meritocracy, accountability, standards, and readiness,” Hegseth wrote in his statement, echoing similar rhetoric used by the White House.
Trump has already been using the US military to aid in carrying out mass illegal migrant deportations and securing the southern border. He vowed in his inauguration speech that his highest responsibility as commander-in-chief is to “defend our country from threats and invasions.”
The 2024 GOP platform promised to ensure the US military is the “strongest” in the world, along with some other policy points that are being implemented in these incoming executive orders.
“Republicans will ensure our Military is the most modern, lethal and powerful Force in the World,” the platform read.
“We will invest in cutting-edge research and advanced technologies, including an Iron Dome Missile Defense Shield, support our Troops with higher pay, and get woke Left-wing Democrats fired as soon as possible.”
