Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Thursday that active-duty transgender troops will have 30 days to voluntarily separate from the military before being forced out.
Hegseth’s announcement comes two days after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Trump administration and restored President Trump’s Jan. 27 executive order directing the Pentagon to discharge service members who identify as transgender.
“After a SCOTUS victory for @POTUS, TRANS is out at the DOD,” Hegseth wrote on X.
The Pentagon chief indicated that he plans to “relentlessly pursue the president’s agenda, especially on readiness,” in a video statement outlining the next steps the Defense Department plans to take to implement Trump’s executive order.
“In accordance with policy now reinstated, service members who have a current diagnosis or history of or exhibit symptoms consistent with gender dysphoria may elect to separate voluntarily,” Hegseth said, noting that the timeline for separation calls transgender service members to be removed “involuntarily, if necessary.”
Approximately 1,000 service members self-identify as being diagnosed with gender dysphoria, according to the Pentagon. There are roughly 1.3 million active duty troops.
Those troops will have 30 days to leave the military voluntarily, if on active duty, and 60 days if they are in reserve components.
The Defense Department will “proceed with processing for involuntary separations after those periods,” read guidance released by the Pentagon.
“This is the president’s agenda,” Hegseth said. “This is what the American people voted for, and we’re going to continue to relentlessly pursue it.”
Trump implemented a similar transgender troop ban during his first administration that the Supreme Court upheld in 2019.
Former President Joe Biden later scrapped the policy.
Seven transgender military service members and one aspiring service member — backed by the National Center for Lesbian Rights as well as GLAD Law — sued the Trump administration over the latest ban.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs argued that the ban violated the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause and claimed the 2018-era Trump policy “lacked the animus-laden language” of the Jan. 27 ban.
