Pentagon Bans Transgender From Joining US Military, Temporarily Stops Gender Transition

Pentagon AS. (Wikimedia Commons/Mariordo Camila Ferreira & Mario Duran)

JAKARTA - Defense Minister Pete Hegseth in a memo submitted to court on Monday wrote a transgender ban on US military and would stop implementing or facilitating procedures related to gender transition for members of the armed forces.

"Immediately in effect, all new acceptances for individuals with a history of gender dissphoria will be temporarily suspended," Defense Minister Hegseth said in a memo dated February 7 and submitted Monday to the US District Court in Washington, DC.

"All unscheduled, scheduled, or planned medical procedures related to the affirmation or facilitation of the gender transition for members of the Force have been temporarily suspended," he said.

It is known that President Donald Trump signed an executive order last month that personally targeted the transgender military -- at one point saying that a man who identified himself as a woman was "inconsistent with the humility and egoism demanded from a member of the military."

Defense Minister Hegseth said individuals with gender dysphoria who were already on duty in the military would be "held with dignity and respect," with the deputy defense minister for personnel and readiness to provide additional details on the matter.

According to data from the Department of Defense (Pentagon), the US has around 1.3 million active-duty soldiers. Meanwhile, transgender rights advocates say there are 15,000 transgender service members, while officials say the number is only thousands.

A poll from Gallup published on Monday said 58 percent of Americans support allowing open transgender individuals to serve in the military, but the support has fallen from 71 percent in 2019.

Last week, a US judge asked the Trump administration's lawyers to ensure six military members demanded to stop an executive order targeting transgender soldiers not to be dismissed from duty, before further court proceedings were held.

Meanwhile, civil rights organizations have filed a temporary detention order, after a service member accused him of being told he was classified as a man or separated from the military.

waty Perelson, a 28-year-old female transgender armed forces member on duty in Fort Jackson in South Carolina, said she was asked to leave the sleeping area for female troops, be given a child's bed in an empty classroom, and not allowed to use a women's bathroom.