The Pentagon has rolled out a new policy that will severely undercut the ability for transgender troops who have been banned from the armed forces by the Trump administration to turn to boards of their peers to argue for their right to stay in the military, according to a memo obtained by The Associated Press.

If military separation boards decide to allow transgender service members to remain in uniform, commanders can override that decision, according to an Oct 8 memo to all the services from the Pentagon’s undersecretary for personnel and readiness, Anthony Tata.

That breaks with longstanding policy that boards act independently.

It is the Pentagon’s latest step to drive transgender troops out of the armed forces following an executive order from President Donald Trump. He and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth have targeted diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in what they say is an effort to make the military more lethal.

The adminstration’s policies have faced pushback in the courts as trans troops and their supporters say they have proven their worth to the military, but the US Supreme Court in May allowed the ban to be enforced while legal challenges proceed.

The new memo, which advocates say was only made available to troops last week, also sets up an additional hurdle of requiring that trans service members appear before separation boards in uniforms that match the gender assigned to them at birth — and if they fail to do so, their absence can be used against them.

The policy — and specifically the uniform mandate — will force a lot of people not to be able to attend their separation board hearings, according to Emily Starbuck Gerson, a spokeswoman for SPARTA Pride, an advocacy group for transgender troops and veterans.

“They’re already essentially being rigged with a predetermined outcome and then now you’re further penalizing someone for not showing up because they can’t wear the wrong uniform,” Gerson added.

When asked about the memo, Pentagon assistant press secretary Riley Podleski said that “as a matter of policy, the Department does not comment on ongoing litigation.” The policy follows an Air Force directive reported by The Associated Press in August, which said separation boards could not independently decide whether to keep or discharge transgender troops and instead “must recommend separation of the member” if they have a diagnosis of gender dysphoria — when a person’s biological sex does not match up with their gender identity.

Gerson said the new policy that applies to all the services “feels very similar to what the Air Force rolled out” but noted that some of the additional hurdles like the uniform mandate were “alarming.” The October memo says, “should the Service member not conform to uniform and grooming standards, board proceedings will continue with the Service member in absentia and may, as appropriate, take the Service member’s failure to comply with standards intro consideration when determining whether the basis for separation has been established.” Many transgender troops have been serving for years and likely don’t own uniforms in the gender assigned to them at birth. And they say forcing them into those uniforms would feel wrong.

Logan Ireland, a master sergeant in the Air Force with 15 years of service, said he has been seen as a man for most of his adult life and for almost 13 years of his military service.

“It would be a betrayal of what the military has seen me as,” he said, adding that “it would be like a costume-like effect.” Ireland, like almost all other transgender troops, is on administrative leave, and he is sporting a long beard.

“Can I put on a skirt or wear the female dress uniform? Sure, yes. … But does that reflect who I am and what I appear to be on a daily basis? No, and it just creates a lot of confusion,” he said.

Gerson, the advocate, says the new policy seems to run counter to the ideal of a merit-based military that Hegseth has touted.

“It does not account for the service member’s career history, accomplishments, training and the necessity to their field,” she said.

Ireland also noted that the policy “denies us the dignity and respect we were promised as we are forced out of a service that once honoured our contributions.” The boards traditionally offer troops who are facing separation from the military a chance at a quasi-legal hearing to determine if that service member still has value to the military and should stay on. Fellow service members hear evidence of whatever wrongdoing occurred and about the person’s character, fitness and performance.

While not a formal court hearing, it has much the same structure. Service members are often represented by lawyers, they can present evidence in their defense and they can appeal the board’s findings to a federal court.

The Pentagon’s policy on separating officers notes that they are entitled to “fair and impartial” hearings that should be “a forum for the officer concerned to present reasons the contemplated action should not be taken.” This impartial nature means that the boards can sometimes reach surprising conclusions. For example, the commanding officer of the USS McCain, a destroyer that collided with an oil tanker in the Pacific in 2017, killing 10, was not recommended for separation in 2019.

More recently, the three active duty Marines who were part of the mob that stormed the Capitol on Jan 6, 2021, were also retained.

Priya Rashid, a military lawyer who has represented service members before hundreds of separation boards, said the fact that commanders can override this process for trans troops subverts justice.

“Service members who are accused of serious misconduct, violent misconduct, sex-based misconduct … are being afforded more due process protections and more rights and entitlements than this group of people solely based on the administrative label of gender dysphoria,” she said.

Published – November 01, 2025 07:47 am IST

Washington DC:

US President Donald Trump said Monday he had signed an executive order ridding the military of what he called “transgender ideology,” in a potentially major setback for LGBTQ rights.

In a series of orders related to the military that Trump told reporters he had signed on Air Force One, he also called for the building of a US version of Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system.

The Republican signed further orders reinstating service members dismissed for refusing to take the Covid vaccine, and extending a wider government crackdown on diversity programs to the armed forces.

“To ensure that we have the most lethal fighting force in the world, we will get transgender ideology the hell out of our military,” Trump told a Republican congressional retreat earlier in Miami.

Trump has previously promised to bring back a ban on transgender troops, but it was not immediately clear what specific steps were contained in the new order, which has not yet been published.

A White House official with him said the order involved “eliminating gender radicalism in the military.”

Trump’s orders came at the start of his second week back in the White House and on the day a welcome ceremony was held at the Pentagon for his new defense secretary, military veteran and Fox News personality Pete Hegseth.

“Thank you for your leadership Mr President. We will execute!” Hegseth — who was confirmed last week despite concerns over his inexperience, and alleged record of heavy drinking and domestic violence — said on X.

Transgender Americans have faced a roller coaster of changing policies on military service in recent years, with Democratic administrations seeking to permit them to serve openly while Trump has repeatedly sought to keep them out of the ranks.

The US military lifted a ban on transgender troops serving in the armed forces in 2016, during Democrat Barack Obama’s second term as president.

Under that policy, trans troops already serving were permitted to do so openly, and transgender recruits were set to start being accepted by July 1, 2017.

‘Patriots’

But the first Trump administration postponed that date to 2018 before deciding to reverse the policy entirely, sparking criticism from rights groups.

Trump claimed that transgender service members were disruptive, expensive and eroded military readiness and camaraderie among troops.

Trump’s Democratic successor Joe Biden moved to reverse the restrictions just days after he took office in 2021, saying all Americans qualified to serve should be able to do so.

While the number of transgender troops in the American military is fairly small — with estimates of some 15,000 out of more than two million uniformed service members — their dismissal would reduce US forces at a time when the country is already facing difficulties recruiting new personnel.

Biden’s outgoing defense secretary Lloyd Austin appeared to criticize Trump’s plans during a farewell address earlier this month, saying: “Any military that turns away qualified patriots who are eager to serve is just making itself smaller and weaker.”

Transgender issues have roiled US politics in recent years, as states controlled by Democrats and Republicans have moved in opposite directions on policies ranging from medical treatment to what books on the topic are allowed in public or school libraries.

Trump has meanwhile repeatedly promised to build a version of the Iron Dome system that Israel has used to shoot down missiles fired by Hamas from Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

But he ignored the fact that the system is designed for short-range threats, making it ill-suited to defending against intercontinental missiles that are the main danger to the United States.

“We need to immediately begin the construction of a state-of-the-art Iron Dome missile defense shield,” Trump said in Miami, adding that it would be “made right here in the USA.”

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)