New guidance for how the U.S. Army will implement the trans military ban says that its Human Resources Command will alter records for transgender troops to reflect their sex assigned at birth, Reuters reports.

The new 14-page memo explains some of the administrative steps the Army is taking to implement the trans military ban and could be reflective of steps being taken by all of the military’s branches.

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Pete Hegseth gives trans people several weeks to “voluntarily” leave the military
“This is not voluntary. This is a decision that folks are coming to under duress.”

“Commanders will take immediate measures to update personnel records and administrative systems to reflect biological sex for all individuals,” the memo states.

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Other measures that the memo lists include requiring everyone in the military to be referred to with pronouns that “reflect their biological sex” (including use of the words “sir” and “ma’am”) and stating that access to “intimate spaces” will be determined by sex assigned at birth.

“In keeping with good order and discipline, salutations (e.g., addressing a senior officer as ‘sir’ or ‘ma’am’),” the memo says.

“Commanders will ensure all such shared intimate spaces will be clearly designated for either male, female, or family use.”

“The directives coming out are vindictive and aggressive,” said Jennifer Levi of the LGBTQ+ organization GLAD Law. “At the same time, they are being issued in a chaotic way that undoubtedly is harming military readiness.”

The memo seeks to implement an executive order from January that said that all federal agencies will have to operate under the belief that gender and sex are the same thing and are determined at birth by the size of one’s gametes.

Later that month, another executive order said that trans people cannot serve in the military and accused them of being unable to meet the military’s “high standards for troop readiness, lethality, cohesion, honesty, humility, uniformity, and integrity,” despite trans people serving openly in the military for years.

Several lawsuits were filed to block the implementation of the ban, and several courts issued temporary injunctions against purging the military of trans people as the lawsuits worked their way through the court system. But earlier this month, the Supreme Court ruled that the administration could implement the ban immediately, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that the military would start forcing transgender servicemembers out starting on June 6 (or July 7 for the reserves).

There are about 4,200 transgender people serving in the military, and 1,000 of them have already identified themselves and volunteered to leave before the June 6 deadline in hopes of getting some of the benefits of voluntarily leaving the military.

“There’s no guarantee to access to your pension or severance or an honorable discharge,” said Rae Timberlake of the trans service member organization Sparta Pride. They are one of the estimated 1,000 transgender service members choosing to leave the military voluntarily now in order to get some of the benefits they have been earning throughout their career that might not be available if the military forces them out for being transgender after June 6.

“This is not voluntary,” they said. “This is a decision that folks are coming to under duress.”

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