The US Department of Defense has approved new rules limiting the ability of transgender service members to appeal their dismissals and continue their service, the AP reported, citing internal Pentagon documents.
According to the agency, the new policy applies to special commissions that review dismissals from the US armed forces. During the review process, service members serving on these commissions can rule in favor of the dismissed person and allow him to continue his service. Now the military command will have the right to overturn the decisions of these commissions.
In addition, transgender service members are required to appear at commission hearings in uniforms corresponding to the gender assigned at birth. Failure to comply with this requirement or their failure to appear can be used against them later.
US President Donald Trump previously revoked an executive order signed in 2021 by his predecessor Joe Biden, which allowed transgender people to serve in the military and prohibited the Pentagon from firing service members based on their gender identity.
The head of state signed an executive order stating that the US government will recognize only two genders - male and female. After that, the US Department of Defense announced that openly transgender people must either voluntarily submit a request for dismissal or be mandatorily fired. According to Pentagon data from February, approximately 4,200 service members have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria — a psychiatric disorder characterized by a conflict between a person's biological sex and gender identity — and about 1,000 of them have undergone sex reassignment surgery since 2014.