On January 28th 2025, President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order that bans transgender people from the military and prevents anyone in the military from transitioning. This executive order completely dismantles Biden’s order of allowing transgender people in the military, which he signed on January 26th, 2021.
The Trump administration has stated that trans troops cost the government to spend costly amounts of money on health care and corrode military effectiveness.
As of recently, there are only 4,240 transgender troops in the United States Military, which in total is about only 0.2 percent of the force.
Many troops who are transgender and in the military have come forward, expressing their experience because of this, such as Chief Warrant Officer Jo Ellis. She joined the Army National Guard right after highschool as a helicopter mechanic and shortly after became a Black Hawk helicopter pilot. During her training, she realized she was transgender. Afraid of what her unit was staying in, Ellis kept her identity a secret.
Ellis said, “I assumed the worst but I was wrong. When I came out, everyone in my unit just opened their arms to me.” Many people in the military who are cis-gender have come forward stating that they do not treat or see trans troops differently. All they care about is if the job is able to get or be done.
The Trump administration has also stated that the cost of gender affirming care is too high. The figures showed that the military has spent $52 million on gender affirming care since 2015. That is $9,000 per individual.
Half of trans troops required no gender affirming medical care and a quarter received gender-affirming surgery. Paul Butista transitioned before joining the navy. The only gender-affirming care he needs is a weekly testosterone shot.
The military provides the same shots for 5,000 cisgendered men in the military who have low testerone levels. During the first Trump Administration, trans troops that were transitioning were allowed to continue serving and actively join the military.
However this time around, they are being completely barred from serving in the military. Petty Officer Second Class Sam Rodriguez joined the navy as a diesel mechanic, then served as a military prison guard.
Rodriguez is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns. They were selected by the navy to be a commissioned officer and trained as a clinical social worker. The Navy saw them as an asset.
Now after the new order, the military now sees Rodriguez as unfit to serve and now they face mandatory discharge.
There have been more executive orders signed by Trump about transgender issues. During the State of the Union Address, Trump addressed trangender people and issues many times.
He stated that he plans to ask Congress to pass a bill to ban sex affirming care on children and banning transgender women from womens sports.