National Defense

Trump’s Pentagon Says Transgenderism ‘Incompatible’ With Military Mission

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President Donald Trump’s Department of Defense (DOD) said “gender dysphoria” is “incompatible with” what it takes to serve in the U.S. military in a court filing Wednesday.

The Pentagon filed the document in response to an ongoing case from LGBT activists challenging Trump’s ban on military service for people who identify as transgender. A policy memo from a “personnel and readiness” office at the DOD says they do not meet military standards and cannot serve, with exceptions for “warfighting capabilities.”

“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,” reads the memo, citing a Feb. 7 directive from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

HEGSETH MEMO: “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.” https://t.co/xsqz98FrAu pic.twitter.com/RjJxrR32fO

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) February 10, 2025

The military requires “high standards for Service member readiness, lethality, cohesion, honesty, humility, uniformity, and integrity,” the Pentagon told staff. Allowing gender-dysphoric people to serve “is not clearly consistent with the interests of national security,” it said.

The new DOD policy also says transgender people currently serving “will be processed for separation” from the military.

Trans-identifying military members sued the Trump administration in January over the president’s January executive order that declared transgender people ineligible for service. Pro-LGBT groups representing them allege the policy is unconstitutional and discriminatory.

Aside from creating medical “constraints,” calling oneself transgender “conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle,” Trump’s executive order said. “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.”

The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), one of the groups suing, said the statements from the DOD’s Wednesday memo are unfair in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“The administration has doubled down on betraying service members who have faithfully followed the rules, met the same standards as others, and put their lives on the line to serve our country,” said NCLR Legal Director Shannon Minter, an attorney on the case.

“The scope and severity of the ban are unprecedented,” Minter told the DCNF. “This is a complete purge of all transgender individuals from military service.”

A Feb. 21 complaint from the Department of Justice (DOJ) accused a Biden-appointed judge overseeing the case of “political bias” against the Trump administration and “misconduct” over her questioning during a hearing. A hearing to decide whether to block the transgender policy is set for March 13.