Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a swift timeline to evacuate transgender people from the U.S. military, a process that will begin as early as next month. In a May 8 memorandum, Heggs directed the Department of Defense to begin a separation process for trans service members, referring President Donald Trump’s executive order as the basis of the lawsuit.
According to the memorandum, trans-duty personnel must voluntarily separate from the military by June 6 and may be eligible for voluntary separation of wages. Preparatory members face a July 7 deadline. “Services of people who are currently diagnosed or historically or exhibit symptoms consistent with gender irritability or who show symptoms are not in the best interest of military services and are not consistent with national security,” Hegss wrote.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell confirmed that about 1,000 service members who have self-identified as transgender will begin the voluntary separation process. The move comes after the revocation of the Biden-era policy that allows transgender people to serve openly in the military. President Trump reversed that policy when he took office in January.
The legal battle to ban the ban continues, but the Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed the Trump administration to enforce the policy, while those challenges took place. Hegseth celebrated the ruling in a video message released to X, calling it a “victory” by Trump and said: “This is the president’s agenda, and that’s what the American people vote, and we will continue to pursue it relentlessly.”
Civil rights groups condemned the decision. In a joint statement, Lambda Legal and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, who challenged the policy in court, called the ruling a “devastating blow to trans service members who demonstrated their ability and commitment to our country’s defense.” They added: “By allowing this discriminatory injunction to take effect as our challenge continues, the court temporarily approved a policy that is not related to military preparation and has nothing to do with bias.”
“Transgender people meet the same standards and show the same values as those who serve. We firmly believe that the ban violates the constitutional guarantee of equal protection and will eventually be lifted,” the statement concluded.
