Transgender service members and advocates ‘devastated’ by ‘un-American’ order banning all trans troops

Pentagon begins process of removing all trans service members while federal judges consider blocking Trump’s order. “It’s devastating for them. It just continues to be very devastating,” Minter told The Independent. “They’ve built their lives around service to our country, and they’re being threatened with losing that and not having to continue the opportunity to serve for no good reason whatsoever. It utterly turns their whole lives upside down, for themselves and their families.”.

The memo includes a “case-by-case basis waiver” that effectively tells trans service members they can continue to serve if they can prove they have never transitioned and have never lived as their sex at birth for a period of time. “It’s just another way to say transgender people can’t serve in the military,” Minter told The Independent. “I mean, it could not be more plain. This is a complete ban. They’re discharging all transgender service members and banning any future transgender people from joining the military. The so-called waiver is basically saying, ‘if you’re already in the military and you can prove that you're not transgender, then we’ll consider letting you stay.’”.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Gil Cisneros, who serves on the House Armed Services Committee, added that “any policy that prevents transgender people from serving as transgender people — whether through an outright ban or through requirements to serve in one's birth sex — is a ban plain and simple.”.

“While every transgender person has, at some point, lived in their birth sex — as everyone has — the point of gender transition is to live in a different sex,” Cisneros said. “That's what makes someone transgender: living in, or seeking to live in if one could, a sex different from their birth sex. Requiring service in one's birth sex requires a transgender individual to suppress being transgender — echoing the goal of discredited conversion therapy practices.”.

“This attack on those who have dedicated themselves to serving our country is not only morally reprehensible but fundamentally un-American,” the groups said in a statement. “Forcing out thousands of transgender servicemembers, who have met every qualification to serve, does not enhance military excellence or make our country safer. Instead, the United States will be losing highly trained professionals who serve in roles critical to our national security.”.

The latest memo states that “the medical, surgical, and mental health constraints on individuals who have a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria are incompatible with the high mental and physical standards necessary for military service.”.

“When you put on the uniform, differences fall away and what matters is your ability to do the job,” said U.S. Army Second Lieutenant Nicolas Talbott, the lead plaintiff in that case. “Every individual must meet the same objective and rigorous qualifications in order to serve,” he said in a statement shared with The Independent. “It has been my dream and my goal to serve my country for as long as I can remember. My being transgender has no bearing on my dedication to the mission, my commitment to my unit, or my ability to perform my duties in accordance with the high standards expected of me and every servicemember.”.

U.S. Army Sergeant First Class Kate Cole, a combat veteran in Afghanistan, said that “removing qualified transgender soldiers like me means an exodus of experienced personnel who fill key positions and can’t be easily replaced, putting the burden on our fellow soldiers left behind.”.

“That’s just wrong — and it destabilizes our armed forces,” Cole said. Minter and lawyers for trans plaintiffs anticipate a federal court order that blocks the Defense Department’s policy “to stop this before it goes any further down the road, and that they can preserve their ability to serve and their careers,” Minter told The Independent.