The Pentagon excludes trans people again
Only in 2016 were trans people allowed to serve openly in the US military. Three years later, the Pentagon slammed the door shut again.
On 12 April 2019, a new Defense Department rule came into force in the United States. Anyone diagnosed with gender dysphoria was, as a rule, no longer allowed to enlist. Almost two years earlier, President Donald Trump had announced on Twitter that trans people should no longer serve "in any capacity". At the time, the announcement had surprised even the Pentagon's leadership.
Only in 2016 had Barack Obama's administration lifted the decades-old ban. Since then, trans service members had been able to serve openly and begin a transition. The new rule reversed this. Only those who had lived stably for three years in the sex recorded at birth would be accepted. A medical transition ruled out service. Those already in uniform were allowed to stay.
The Pentagon denied that this was a ban. Everyone would be treated with dignity and respect, it said. The ministry presented no data supporting the change of course. The criticism was correspondingly sharp. The American Medical Association declared that there was no medical reason to exclude trans people from service. Aaron Belkin of the Palm Center called the rule a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" for trans people. Under that policy, gay and lesbian soldiers had had to keep silent until 2011. Now, too, those who hid their identity could serve. Those who lived openly could not.
This had been made possible by the Supreme Court. By five votes to four, it had ruled in January that the rule could be applied while lawsuits against it were pending.
The ban did not last long. Joe Biden lifted it shortly after taking office in 2021. But history repeated itself. In his second term, Trump issued an even stricter ban in 2025, this time also against those already serving. And again the Supreme Court allowed it to stand for the time being.