Pentagon orders removal of up to 1,000 transgender troops from military

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 Defence Department will then begin going through medical records to identify others who haven't come forward.

Defence 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 was more blunt, telling a conference that his department is leaving wokeness and weakness behind. "No more pronouns," he told a special operations forces conference in Tampa.

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.

Officials have said that as of December 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.

The memo released on Thursday mirrors one sent out in February, but any action was stalled at that point by several lawsuits.