After Trump order, US Army bans transgender people from joining military

The announcement comes after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on January 27 directing the Pentagon to determine a policy for transgender service members within 30 days. (Courtesy: Reuters file photo)

The US Army will no longer allow transgender people from joining the military, it announced in a post on social media. It will also stop providing gender-affirming care for service members.

"The US Army will no longer allow transgender individuals to join the military and will stop performing or facilitating procedures associated with gender transition for service members," the post read.

The announcement comes after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on January 27 directing the Pentagon to determine a policy for transgender service members within 30 days.

Trump's order stated that expressing "a gender identity inconsistent with an individual's sex conflicts with a soldier's commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one's personal life" and that those doing so "cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service."

The US Army added in its post that while people with 'gender dysphoria' would be treated with dignity and respect for volunteering to serve America, gender-affirming care would be paused indefinitely.

The #USArmy will no longer allow transgender individuals to join the military and will stop performing or facilitating procedures associated with gender transition for service members.Stay tuned for more details.
U.S. Army (@USArmy) February 14, 2025

"Effective 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," it said on X, formerly Twitter.

According to a report in CBS News, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth had temporarily put a hold on recruits who are diagnosed with gender dysphoria and paused all gender-affirming care, as per a February 7 memo.

The National Park Service recently moved references to transgender and queer people from its website for the Stonewall National Monument, a park and visitor center in New York that commemorates the birthplace of the modern US LGBTQ+ rights movement.

"This is just cruel and petty," New York governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, posted on X. "Transgender people play a critical role in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights — and New York will never allow their contributions to be erased."

The monument in Manhattan's Greenwich Village section is based in a tiny park across the street from the Stonewall Inn, a bar that became ground zero for the gay rights movement on June 28, 1969, when gay and transgender patrons and neighborhood residents fought back against a police raid.

During his first term from 2017 to 2021 as well, Donald Trump had announced he would ban transgender troops from serving in the military.