Up to 1,000 transgender troops are being moved out of the military in new Pentagon order
May 8, 2025, 2:58 PM
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth listens during a meeting with Peru's Foreign Affairs Minister Elmer Schialer and Peru's Minister of Defense Walter Astudillo at the Pentagon, Monday, May 5, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS
(AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
WASHINGTON (AP) — 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 then begin going through medical records to identify others who haven’t come forward.
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.
