The Pentagon will begin immediately removing nearly 1,000 service members who openly identify as transgender from the US armed forces. The rest will have 30 days to identify themselves under a new Defense Department directive, the Associated Press reported, quoted by BTA.
The measure comes as a result of a US Supreme Court ruling on Tuesday that gives the Donald Trump administration the green light to impose a ban on transgender people serving in the military. The department has already begun reviewing medical records to identify service members who have not come forward publicly but have a diagnosis related to gender dysphoria or are undergoing medical procedures to reassign their gender.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who issued the directive, made his position clear following the court ruling. In a post on the social media platform X, he wrote:
“No more transgender people in the Department of Defense.“
The department says it is difficult to determine the exact number of service members affected. However, anyone with a documented diagnosis of gender dysphoria or evidence of undergoing related medical procedures will be subject to involuntary discharge.