President Donald Trump is poised to sign two new executive orders prohibiting transgender individuals from serving in the U.S. military and eliminating DEI policies from the armed forces. While he already reversed Joe Biden’s directive allowing trans service members last week, these latest orders will go further by explicitly banning trans troops and restricting use of gender pronouns.
Return of ‘merit-based’ standards
Republican critics claim DEI prioritizes hiring certain minority or marginalized groups over more qualified candidates. Trump’s new orders will direct the military to focus on physical readiness and “resilience” requirements—arguing that transgender treatments make troops unfit for deployment due to the lengthy recovery period.
Vaccine holdouts reinstated
Trump also plans to reinstate service members discharged for refusing Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate, granting them back pay and restoring their rank. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said these actions mark a “shift” in how the Pentagon will operate moving forward.
Pentagon’s next steps
The Defense Secretary must now draft directives to enforce Trump’s orders. It’s unclear how many current transgender service members will be discharged or when this might occur. A 2018 study estimated roughly 14,700 trans troops, though no official count exists.
