Defense Department Removing Military Members With Gender Dysphoria

Jeremy Frankel | February 28, 2025 5:00 PM

The Pentagon is planning to disqualify members of the military who suffer from gender dysphoria.

A new memo from the Department of Defense is directing a review of military members who either identify as transgender or who have past diagnoses of gender dysphoria.

The memo was revealed in a court filing on Wednesday for a legal case challenging the directive to disqualify people with the condition from military service.

“The medical, surgical, and mental health constraints on individuals who have a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria are incompatible with the high mental and physical standards necessary for military service," the memo states.

“[S]ervice 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 memo continues.

Should there be “a compelling government interest in retaining the service member that directly supports warfighting capabilities,” then waivers would be granted on a “case-by-case basis,” according to the memo. However, the waiver applicant must have never attempted to transition, as well as having demonstrated “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.”

These new rules on gender dysphoria from the military are consistent with other regulations against service members suffering from many conditions that could affect military readiness, such as anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, or major depression.

The memo gives the military branches 30 days to identify service members who identify as transgender or suffer from gender dysphoria in order to remove them from the military, and must begin setting up mechanisms to do so in compliance with President Trump’s executive order barring transgender troops from service.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth directed the military to stop transgender treatments and surgeries for service members earlier this month, stating that “[E]ffective immediately, all new accessions for individuals with a history of gender dysphoria are paused, and all unscheduled, scheduled, or planned medical procedures associated with affirming or facilitating a gender transition for Service members are paused.”