Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has directed the military to stop recruiting transgender people and to suspend any gender-affirming medical treatments for current servicemembers diagnosed with gender dysphoria as part of his implementation of Donald Trump’s executive order banning trans people from the military.

In a memorandum to senior military leaders sent on February 7, Hegseth wrote that the point of the move is to “ensure [the Department of Defense] is building ‘One Force’ without subgroups defined by anything other than ability or mission adherence.”

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“A lot of red-blooded, alpha-male, patriotic American men are actually too scared to join the military.”

“Efforts to split our troops along the lines of identity weaken our Force and make us vulnerable. Such efforts must not be tolerated or accommodated.”

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Trump’s trans military ban, though, does the exact opposite – it defines a subgroup within the military based on criteria unrelated to “ability or mission adherence,” splits troops along that line of identity, and could result in 8000 to 25,000 servicemembers being forced out of the military.

Trump’s military ban executive order, signed on January 27, says that trans people are incapable of honoring “a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life,” based on the stereotype that transgender people are inherently dishonest.

“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 executive order states.

Executive orders are not self-executing, which is why Hegseth is starting to slowly implement Trump’s executive order now with his new memorandum, issued on February 7.

“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,” Hegseth wrote.

In a January 31 memo, Hegseth directed the branches of the military to implement the trans military ban, writing that “Biological sex is an immutable characteristic. It is not fluid, and it cannot transform. Gender ideology denies this fundamental reality, and places women at risk by allowing biological males to gain access to intimate, single-sex spaces,” The Hill reports.

Trans people are fighting back, though. Two federal lawsuits have been filed to stop the ban. The LGBTQ+ organizations GLAD Law and the National Center for Lesbian Rights filed a lawsuit in late January in the federal court for the District of Columbia on behalf of six active servicemembers and two people who want to join the military.

“When you put on the uniform, differences fall away and what matters is your ability to do the job,” Second Lt. Nicolas Talbott, one of the plaintiffs in the suit, said in a statement. “Every individual must meet the same objective and rigorous qualifications in order to serve. It has been my dream and my goal to serve my country for as long as I can remember. My being transgender has no bearing on my dedication to the mission, my commitment to my unit, or my ability to perform my duties in accordance with the high standards expected of me and every servicemember.”

The LGBTQ+ organizations Lambda Legal and HRC filed a second federal suit in early February, challenging the trans military ban on behalf of six active servicemembers and one person who wants to join the military.

“Our country needs ready, able, and willing service members to stand up and protect our freedoms,” the lawsuit states. “But the 2025 Military Ban turns them away and kicks them out—for no legitimate reason. Rather, it baselessly declares all transgender people unfit to serve, insults and demeans them, and cruelly describes every one of them as incapable of ‘an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life,’ based solely because they are transgender. These assertions are, of course, false.”

The trans military organization SPARTA Pride estimates that there are between 15,000 and 25,000 transgender people in the military.

Congress estimated in January that the Department of Defense spent around $15 million on gender-affirming care for around 1900 trans servicemembers between 2016 and 2021, with most of that money being spent on psychotherapy. The Department of Defense estimated in 2015 that it spends over $84 million per year on erectile dysfunction medications, which is just one form of gender-affirming care that cisgender people use.

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