Military commanders will be told to send transgender troops to medical checks to oust them

WASHINGTON (AP) — Military commanders will be told to identify troops in their units who are transgender or have gender dysphoria, then send them to get medical checks in order to force them out of the service, officials said Thursday.

A senior defense official laid out what could be a complicated and lengthy new process aimed at fulfilling President Donald Trump’s directive to remove transgender service members from the U.S. military.

The new order to commanders relies on routine annual health checks that service members are required to undergo. Another defense official said the Defense Department has scrapped — for now — plans to go through troops’ health records to identify those with gender dysphoria.

Instead, transgender troops who do not voluntarily come forward could be outed by commanders or others aware of their medical status. Gender dysphoria occurs when a person’s biological sex does not match up with their gender identity.

The defense officials spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details of the new policy. The process raises comparisons to the early “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, which at times had commanders or other troops outing gay members of the military who — at the time — were not allowed to serve openly.