From Draft NOtices, April-June 2025
— Em Padilla
At the start of his second presidential term, Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14183, “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness,” effectively banning Transgender military personnel. The signing came on the heels of Trump’s presidential campaign that demonized the Transgender community via television advertisements, social media posts, and inflammatory rhetoric on the campaign trail. Moreover, the Executive Order and its ensuing policy are an expansion of the work the Trump administration did during his first term between 2017 and 2021 to institute a ban on service by Transgender military personnel. The current political moment has established a dangerous precedent for Transgender people in the United States via anti-trans legislation, violent rhetoric, and political targeting. The banning of Transgender military members speaks to the broader implications of increased transphobic legislative and policy shifts over the last several years. The issues of the current trans military ban are reflective of the precarious conditions trans people have and continue to face in the civilian sector.
First, I will contextualize the current trans military ban by situating it in the changing trans inclusion/exclusion policies in the U.S. military. While policies of inclusion and exclusion serve distinct technical purposes (to keep Transgender people in or out of the U.S. military), the goal is the same: to enhance troop lethality. The excerpted documents below will show examples of this ever-shifting inclusion/exclusion phenomenon.
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Transgender military personnel were officially allowed to serve openly on June 30th, 2016, after the Secretary of Defense released Directive-Type Memo 16-005 (DTM 16-005). The DTM established that trans personnel should be able to serve so long as they are able to meet various standards of service. A key policy featured in the DTM stipulates, “These policies and procedures are premised on my conclusion that open service by transgender Service members while being subject to the same standards and procedures as other members with regard to their medical fitness for duty, physical fitness, uniform and grooming, deployability, and retention, is consistent with military readiness and with strength through diversity.”
DTM 16-005 ushered in a new era in which Transgender people were be able to serve on the basis that all eligible Americans should be able to serve.[1]
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On August 17th, 2017, a presidential memorandum titled “Military Service by Transgender Individuals Memorandum for the Secretary of Defense [and] the Secretary of Homeland Security” opened the way for the first Trump administration to run a “comprehensive” study that found trans people unfit to serve.
After social backlash and legal opposition, this memorandum resulted in policy and guidance that essentially made it so that only particular trans people met the criteria for service. Trump’s contention was that the Obama administration did not do enough to prove that Transgender soldiers would not hinder military functioning. Ultimately, the goal was the same — to safeguard the efficacy of the military’s functioning. This memorandum would go on to inform a trans-military ban that would last until 2021.[2]
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On January 25th, 2021, Joe Biden signed an executive order titled “Executive Order on Enabling All Qualified Americans to Serve Their Country in Uniform” that undid the Trump administration’s ban on Transgender military service, establishing that:
…There is substantial evidence that allowing transgender individuals to serve in the military does not have any meaningful negative impact on the Armed Forces. To that end, in 2016, a meticulous, comprehensive study requested by the Department of Defense found that enabling transgender individuals to serve openly in the United States military would have only a minimal impact on military readiness and healthcare costs. The study also concluded that open transgender service has had no significant impact on operational effectiveness or unit cohesion in foreign militaries.
The Biden administration’s decision to revoke Trump’s ban was situated on the notion that trans personnel would not negatively affect military functioning and that all able Americans should be able to serve. After signing this executive order, trans personnel were allowed to serve openly again.[3]
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In the first month of Trump’s 2nd term, on January 27th, 2025, he signed the executive order titled “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness” that revitalized the military ban on Transgender people. However, this Executive Order marked a stark shift in how trans soldiers and their service are discussed. This executive order articulates:
[The] Armed Forces have been afflicted with radical gender ideology to appease activists unconcerned with the requirements of military service like physical and mental health, selflessness, and unit cohesion…Beyond the hormonal and surgical medical interventions involved, adoption of 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. A man’s assertion that he is a woman, and his requirement that others honor this falsehood, is not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member.
According to this executive order, Transgender service members do not meet the requirements of service and pose a severe threat to the functioning of the military. However, instead of focusing on the medical costs and other medically related issues presented during Trump’s first administration, this executive order characterizes the Transgender soldier as being inherently deceptive. The argument is predicated on the idea that trans identities are not consistent with military values because of a perceived inability of trans soldiers to serve with “humility and selflessness” because their identities are considered a falsehood.[4]
With each change in presidential administration, there has been a massive shift in how Transgender military personnel can exist within the country generally and within the military. I contend that regardless of the political scope of the inclusive and exclusive efforts, the goal remains the same: to enhance troop lethality and unit cohesion and uphold the values of the U.S. Empire. While the idea of an inclusive military may seem like a progressive shift, it only exacerbates the issue of U.S. militarism. The reasons why trans people may want to serve are varied. However, it must be pointed out that the project of militarism is less about what trans people can and cannot do for the military than the efficacy and lethality of the U.S. military. The reality is that in either a moment of progressive inclusion or a moment in which Transgender military service is banned, trans people are still facing dire conditions in the civilian sector. So rather than the question being about whether trans people should or should not be allowed to serve, the question should be about why and how the U.S. government creates the conditions necessary for military service.
Information sources:
- [1] United States Department of Defense, Directive-type Memorandum (DTM) 16-005, “Military Service of Transgender Members.” By Ash Carter, (DTM) 16-005 (Washington, DC. DoD, 2016)
- [2] Donald J. Trump, “Military Service by Transgender Individuals Memorandum for the Secretary of Defense [and] the Secretary of Homeland Security.” (Washington, DC., 2017)
- [3] Exec. Order No.14004, 86 FR 7471 (2021)
- [4] Exec. Order No.14183, 90 FR 8757 (2025)
This article is from Draft NOtices, the newsletter of the Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft (https://www.comdsd.org/).
