May 8 (UPI) — The Pentagon will begin immediately removing 1,000 transgender service members from the military, according to a memo issued Thursday, after the Supreme Court earlier this week ruled in favor of the Trump administration’s ban on transgender soldiers.
The memo states that service members who suffer from gender dysphoria or have a history with the condition may choose to separate from the military voluntarily. Service members who have yet to self-identify for voluntary separation may do so until June 6, and until July 7 for active component service members.
Following the closure of the self-identification window, the military will begin to to involuntary separate transgender military personnel.
“This is the president’s agenda, this is what the American people voted for, and we’re going to relentlessly pursue it,” Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said in a video statement on the directive.
The approximately 1,000 service members slated for immediate removal have previously self-identified as having been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement.
There are reportedly 4,240 people in the military who have a gender dysphoria diagnosis. Previous studies had estimated about 14,707 transgender Americans serving in uniform. There are roughly 2.1 million troops.
During his first week in office, Trump — who ran an anti-transgender campaign — signed an executive order directing the Pentagon to ban transgender service members by claiming that Americans with gender dysphoria serving in the military is inconsistent with the U.S. policy to “establish high standards for troop readiness, lethality, cohesion, honesty, humility, uniformity and integrity.”
Limited exceptions exist for transgender service members to remain in the military where there is a “compelling government interest.”
Transgender service members challenged the policy in court, with the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday ruling 6-3 in favor of the Trump administration’s authority to enforce the ban. No reason was given.
After the high court’s order was made public, Hegseth celebrated on social media.
“No More Trans @ DoD,” he said in a post to X.
