US Army to discharge transgender people within a month - CBS
Illustrative photo: The US Army plans to discharge transgender people from service within a month (Getty Images)
The United States of America plans to discharge transgender military personnel within a month. However, exceptions are possible in some cases, CBS reports.
"Service members who have a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria will be processed for separation from military service," the Pentagon memorandum says.
To be allowed to continue serving, the military must prove that they have never attempted to change their gender, and demonstrate “36 consecutive months of stability in the service member's sex without clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.”
Transgender issues in US Army
The United States lifted its ban on transgender service in 2016 under the Transgender Equality Act. According to the policy at the time:
- transgender military personnel already in service could do so openly;
- transgender recruits were to be accepted by July 1, 2017.
However, during the first term of Donald Trump's presidency, the aforementioned date was postponed to 2018, and later this policy was canceled altogether.
The restrictions of the Republican administration, after attempts to challenge them in court, came into force in April 2019. Trump's successor, Joe Biden, lifted the restrictions a few days after taking office in 2021.
In January 2025, Trump issued an executive order that again aimed at transgender military service, saying: "Expressing a false 'gender identity' divergent from an individual's sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service."
According to Reuters, Trump also recently ordered that only two genders be recognized in the United States: male and female.
