DOD issues new rules limiting care, enlistement for transgender troops

Transgender individuals looking to join the military will be blocked from enlistment, and transgender troops already serving will be blocked from receiving some gender-related medical care from military physicians under new rules released by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

In a memo dated Feb. 7 but only made public in recent days, Hegseth vowed that “individuals with gender dysphoria [who] have volunteered to serve our country … will be treated with dignity and respect” by other members of the armed forces.

But he also put severe limits on their medical care, going beyond restrictions leveled by President Donald Trump in his first term as command-in-chief.

The new rules call for a pause in “all unscheduled, scheduled or planned medical procedures associated with affirming or facilitating a gender transition for service members.” Department officials have not yet released details on exactly which medical services that entails.

The move comes as the Trump administration already faces a lawsuit for the president’s executive order in January barring transgender troops from joining the military, stating “expressing a false ‘gender identity’ divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service.”

Hegseth echoed that sentiment in the new memo, saying that troops must “abide by strict mental and physical standards” in order to meet the demands of military life.

Defense officials have said that about 4,000 individuals are currently serving in the military, both on active-duty and in the reserves. Outside advocates have said they believe the figure is higher.

Last month, officials from the Congressional Research Service said the Defense Department spent about $15 million to provide gender-affirming care to 1,892 active-duty troops, at a cost of about $8,000 per person.

Last week, in a statement before Hegseth’s memo, officials from the nonprofit Human Rights Campaign Foundation blasted Trump’s attacks on transgender troops and recruits as harmful to the military.

“This discriminatory ban is a threat to our national security, wastes years of training and financial investments, and is unconstitutional,” said Sarah Warbelow, vice president at the foundation.

“Thousands of transgender servicemembers have already met the military’s rigorous standards and more than proven themselves. Our military must be able to recruit the best candidates, retain the highly-trained servicemembers, and every qualified patriot should be able to serve free of discrimination.”

Trump in recent days has also taken aim at the participation of transgender athletes in collegiate sports, and he ordered federal agencies to stop “use of pronouns that inaccurately reflect an individual’s sex” in emails and other correspondence.