Pentagon’s Purge of Trans Servicemembers to Begin
Roughly a thousand will be discharged forthwith.
NBC News (“Up to 1,000 transgender troops are being moved out of the military in new Pentagon order“):
The Pentagon will immediately begin moving as many as 1,000 openly identifying transgender service members out of the military and give others 30 days to self-identify under a new directive issued Thursday.
Buoyed by Tuesday’s Supreme Court decision allowing the Trump administration to enforce a ban on transgender individuals in the military, the Defense Department will begin going through medical records to identify others who haven’t come forward.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who issued the latest memo, made his views clear after the court’s decision.
“No More Trans @ DoD,” Hegseth wrote in a post on X. Earlier in the day, before the court acted, Hegseth said that his department is leaving wokeness and weakness behind.
“No more pronouns,” he told a special operations forces conference in Tampa. “No more dudes in dresses. We’re done with that s—.”
Not exactly the language one usually associates with cabinet secretaries giving prepared marks, but Hegseth is not your typical cabinet secretary. I have seen no indication that trans civilians will be targeted, so, even if the purge is complete, there would still be trans @DOD. But maybe I’m missing something.
As to the logistics:
Department officials have said it’s difficult to determine exactly how many transgender service members there are, but medical records will show those who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, who show symptoms or are being treated.
Those troops would then be involuntarily forced out of the service. And no one with that diagnosis will be allowed to enlist. Gender dysphoria occurs when a person’s biological sex does not match up with their gender identity.
Officials have said that as of Dec. 9, 2024, there were 4,240 troops diagnosed with gender dysphoria in the active duty, National Guard and Reserve. But they acknowledge the number may be higher.
There are about 2.1 million total troops serving.
As I’ve noted from the beginning, the numbers are tiny in terms of the total force and might well be more than offset by increased recruitment from would-be servicemembers who did not want to serve with trans comrades. The real shame—regardless of one’s politics or sensibilities on the transgender issue generally or their impacts on good order and discipline within a fighting force—is that people have endured the hardships of training and potentially deployment to combat zones, made relationships, and sacrificed other opportunities only to be tossed aside on a whim.
The updated order states that those who voluntarily self-identify between now and June 6 (for Active Component) and July 7 (for Reserve Component) will be eligible for voluntary separation pay. Previous guidance gave more details:
Service members affected by the policy may apply for and be considered for a waiver on a case-by-case basis if there is a compelling government interest in retaining the service member who directly supports warfighting. If they don’t obtain a waiver, service members with gender dysphoria are disqualified from military service and must be processed for separation.
Those service members may elect to separate from service voluntarily and will be eligible for voluntary separation pay if they choose that route. Those same service members will also not have to repay any bonuses received, even if they have a remaining service obligation.
Service members who choose to be separated involuntarily will be eligible for involuntary separation pay, which is less than voluntary separation pay. Those service members may be required to pay back any bonuses they received.
As an example, an E-5 service member with 10 years of service would collect $101,628 in voluntary separation pay, while that same service member would collect $50,814 in involuntary separation pay.
Additionally, impacted service members with more than 18 years of service but less than 20 years of service are eligible for early retirement.
All service members affected by the policy will be separated with an honorable characterization of service, except where their record otherwise warrants a lower characterization. Additionally, service secretaries will waive remaining military service obligations for those separated under this policy.
It’s not clear to me whether “separated with an honorable characterization of service” means that an Honorable Discharge or a General Discharge Under Honorable Conditions. Both come with most veteran’s benefits but the former is certainly more coveted. My presumption is that it would be dependant on length of service.
I used to think of Gorsuch as a right-leaning nerd, who one could count on to apply the law as it stands when there wasn’t much ambiguity. But apparently he thinks discrimination against trans folks isn’t gender discrimination at all.
This is out and out bigotry with no reference to readiness, warfighting, or any other military attributes. He may as well say, no more short people, no more ugly people. I know he won’t say no more white supremacists, no more tattooed soldiers, etc.
Everyday Hegseth proves his own lack of fitness.
Hegseth might make it so uncomfortable for civilian trans people working in the DoD that they might feel compelled to leave.
What is this Administration’s weird obsession with WARFIGHTING!!!!? Interior is doing the same childish thing with ENERGY DOMINANCE!!!! It’s a preteen’s idea of how to portray strength.
In addition to how awful this is for LGBT+ folks, I feel that this is a tangible example of one of the types of logical future consequence of RFK Jr’s desired autism database.
Query. Is this “buy-out” taxable income? As a lump sum? Withholdings?
I mean, let’s fine some other way to screw these poor people over, since we don’t value their sacrifices anymore. Sheesh.
I just have no words for this. It’s so unnecessary, solves no problems, it’s cruel, it’s pointless bigotry (but then, that’s true of all bigotry).
All this accomplishes is to ruin or disrupt the lives of a few thousand people. Is it worth it for a moment of pretend superiority? Does this make housing more affordable? Does it provide healthcare for one person? Does it educate one child? Does it even affect the military in any sense?
Prior to making this statement Hegseth had been in his private makeup studio reapplying his foundation and concealer.
@Kathy:
If these numbers are accurate it’s about 00.2% of the troops serving. This is just more of their performative bullshit.
@Daryl:
Attempting to hide the ravages of excess alcohol consumption, no doubt.
@Scott:
The worst cabinet member of the worst Cabinet, in the worst Administration since Andrew Johnson.
James: “and might well be more than offset by increased recruitment from would-be servicemembers who did not want to serve with trans comrades.”
That’s true, if we only count one outcome, things might be better.
On top of that, those troops are not ones we want, with MAGA running the government.
@Jay L Gischer: Gorsuch literally authored an opinion, certainly not on originalist grounds, arguing that transgender discrimination is sex discrimination.
The one place we are never bothered by trolls is issues like this when they might be asked to justify Trump’s cruelty.
@James Joyner:
I wouldn’t hold much hope on that decision. For one thing, it took place when trans women were merely disliked, not after we became public enemy number 2, just behind undocumented immigrants.
Then, too, the matter of gender affirming care for minors was heard by the Crow and Leo court. I’m not optimistic at all about the decision that will result. I’d consider it a win if they don’t ban all such care for minors outright.
Not exactly the language one usually associates with cabinet secretaries giving prepared marks, but Hegseth is not your typical cabinet secretary.
You are way to kind to Hegseth. As others have said, this is straight out bigotry. there are many ways he could have phrased his statement, he chose to sound like a garden-variety bigot. I’m surprised he didn’t throw in a few terms like “tra**y”. I’m guessing he would be happy to throw out all women and people of color from the military if he could. What a sorry example of human being.
It’s fun to note that each and every thing that RW freaks complain about DEI is… exactly what they’re doing regarding this.
Evaluation of fitness for duty… happens every day. At every job, of course, not just the military — you’re only as good as your next deliverable.
Multiple deployments complete successfully and.. only now are these veterans unfit for duty? Nope, don’t buy it.
EAIAC should be burned on this guy’s tombstone because he will never escape this.