The US military has announced that it will no longer accept transgender service members who want to enlist or facilitate gender affirmation procedures.
The administration of President Donald Trump’s latest effort to rescind transgender people’s protections was a Monday memo filed at the US District Court in Washington, DC.
In the memo, which was dated February 7, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote, “All new accessions for individuals with a history of gender dysphoria are paused immediately.”
“All unscheduled, scheduled, or planned medical procedures associated with affirming or facilitating a gender transition for Service members are paused”.
The Trump administration sees the suspension of transgender rights in the military as a necessary step toward “military readiness.” In addition, it has criticized what it refers to as the “radical gender ideology” promotion within the military as a result of its wider campaign against diversity initiatives.
But critics say Monday’s memo and related measures are aimed at erasing transgender identity, perpetuating discrimination, and forcing transgender service members to live in secrecy and fear.
Advocates say as many as 15, 000 transgender people currently serve in the US military, out of a population of 1.3 million active-duty service members.
An ongoing campaign
There is a sizable amount of support for transgender military personnel in the US. A Gallup report released on Monday found that 58 percent of Americans supported allowing people who are openly transgender to serve in the military.
However, Gallup pointed out that this number had fallen off previous highs. In 2019, for instance, the approval rating was 71 percent. By 2021, however, it had dropped to 66 percent – and then to 58 percent this year.
The organization noted that independents and Republicans had contributed to the decline.
During that time, Trump has repeatedly criticized transgender people. During his first term, from 2017 to 2021, he similarly moved to bar transgender people from military service.
He wrote over two posts in 2017, “transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military,” and he wrote, “After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow” .
Former President Joe Biden repealed that restriction. Trump’s campaign against transgender people was renewed as he ran for office for his second term this year, and he signed an executive order denying the existence of a “self-assessed gender identity” on his first day.
A few days later, on January 27, he signed another executive order, directed specifically at the military.
“A man’s assertion that he is a woman, and his requirement that others honor this falsehood, is not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member”, the order reads.
Six transgender service members and two candidates who wanted to enlist filed for a temporary restraining order on February 3 on behalf of a group of civil rights organizations.
They filed their petition to the US District Court in Washington, DC. As part of their complaint, they included testimony from a 28-year-old transgender woman, Miriam Perelson, who serves in the US military.
According to reports, she was told to either be expelled from the military or classified as a man. She also explained that she was instructed to , leave the women’s sleeping area and sleep on a cot in an empty classroom instead, in addition to being barred from using women’s restrooms.
“I’ve spent more than half my life in the Army, including combat in Afghanistan”, Army Sergeant Kate Cole, another plaintiff in the suit, said in a news release.
“Removing qualified transgender soldiers like myself leads to a displacement of experienced personnel who fill important positions and cannot be easily replaced, burdening our fellow soldiers who are dispersed.” That’s just wrong — and it destabilizes our armed forces”.
The campaign to restrict transgender rights, however, extends beyond the military.
Trump also signed a letter on February 5th, which threatened to withhold funding for institutions that allowed transgender women to play women’s sports.
The first restriction of its kind to explicitly target transgender people at university housing was approved by the state legislature on Monday in the state of Utah. The bill prohibits transgender college students from living in dorms that are consistent with their gender identity.
Source: Aljazeera
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