New army documents outline the plan for throwing transgender troops out of US military
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Guidance issued by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth states that transgender service members have to voluntarily depart from active duty by June 6.
After that date, the military is set to start involuntary separations for active duty trans service members.
The Army issued further guidance on Wednesday regarding how it will identify and interact with soldiers who have gender dysphoria, documents obtained by CBS News reveal.
In February, Hegseth said in a memo that trans service members would be treated with dignity. However, the new internal orders for the Army instruct personnel to address trans troops by the gender they were assigned at birth and not their preferred pronoun.
The guidance includes a list of criteria that the military will use for soldiers to begin to identify fellow service members who are suspected of having gender dysphoria. The requirements include previous requests for exemptions to grooming standards connected to medical assignment at birth or starting a medical treatment plan connected to gender dysphoria.
Other markers, according to the guidance, include โovert conductโ on social media or in person, showing a gender identity other than what an individual was assigned at birth, as well as a โprivate conversationโ that a commanding officer may have with a soldier in which they disclosed having gender dysphoria.
Itโs expected that a commander will set into motion a medical record review if theyโre aware of any of these criteria. The departmentโs new policy also means that service members will be asked about their identity during medical check-ups.
While Hegseth said in the February memo that trans troops will be “treated with dignity and respect,โ he has severely criticised trans troops in public.
“No more dudes in dresses, we’re done with that s***,โ he said at a military conference in Florida this month.
Similarly, while the Army guidance tells soldiers to use the “utmost professionalism and treating all individuals with dignity and respect,โ its new policies go against social norms for trans people, such as addressing them using their preferred pronouns.
A trans infantry officer and Afghanistan veteran, Army Maj. Kara Corcoran, told CBS News on Friday that “By implementing this guidanceโฆyou’re making it worse than the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy, because you’re overtly hunting down and trying to identify transgender service members or anybody thatโฆexhibits symptoms of gender dysphoria.โ
“Transgender service members have served openly since 2016 without adverse impacts on readiness or unit cohesion,โ she said. โThousands of transgender troops are combat-tested, having deployed to war zones and executed missions with distinction.”
According to the Department of Defense, gender dysphoria is a “marked incongruence between an individual’s experienced or expressed gender and their assigned gender, lasting at least six months, as manifested by conditions causing clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.โ
The Army guidance shared on Wednesday suggests that identifying with a gender other than the one assigned at birth goes against standards of truthfulness and discipline.
The wording is similar to an executive order issued by President Donald Trump in January stating that the values of trans service members arenโt in line with the “humility and selflessness requiredโ of military members and are “inconsistent with” the “cohesion” needed in the armed forces.
A spokesperson for the Army told CBS News that additional guidance has been issued since May 8 amid the continuing voluntary separation of service members.
The spokesperson added that “Pronoun usage when referring to Soldiers must reflect their biological sex. In keeping with good order and discipline, salutations (e.g., addressing a senior officer as “sir” or “ma’am”) must also reflect an individual’s biological sex.โ
“The Army recognizes the selfless service of all who have volunteered to serve our great nation,โ they added. โWe are in the process of ensuring the Army is aligned with recent policy changes to Soldier requirements. Regardless of potential outcomes, every Soldier will be treated with dignity and respect.”
