Trump to Reintroduce Trans Military Ban “On Day One”

President-Elect Donald Trump has plans to reintroduce the ban on transgender people serving in the military once he takes power in January.

Trump initially introduced the ban in 2019 during his first term, announcing on what was then Twitter that trans service members would have to serve as their biological sex unless they had already transitioned. He said that the military “must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs an disruption that transgender in the military would entail.”

This ban was reversed under the Biden administration in 2021.

During his presidential campaign in August, Trump told a New Hampshire crowd that he didn’t want to waste a “single cent to fund transgender surgeries or sex-change procedures.”

“Those precious taxpayer dollars should be going to care for our veterans in need, not to refund radical gender experiments for the communist left.”

A RAND study, commissioned by the Obama government in 2015, found that of the estimated 1,300-6,600 transgender service members in the active component, less than 150 annually would seek transition-related care that could disrupt their ability to deploy. The estimated cost of extending transition-related healthcare coverage would increase by between $2.4 million and $8.4 million annually, representing a 0.04- to 0.13-percent increase in active-component health care expenditures.

If it passes, as many as 15,000 service members could be excluded from the military on the basis that they are “unfit to serve”.

The Human Rights Campaign condemned the ban, with HRC President Kelley Robinson saying the ban would make America less safe and is “nothing more than transphobia masquerading as policy.”

“Transgender people exist and belong and in every part of our society, and we stand with these service members and will take swift action to push back against this dangerous and discriminatory ban. Any person who meets the qualifications should be able to serve.”

“A Short and Shameful Chapter”

When Biden overturned Trump’s 2019 ban after he assumed presidency in 2021, trans sergeant Cathrine Schmid celebrated.

“This isn’t simply about our place in the military, or my place in my unit. It’s about our right to be treated as co-equal members of society. This harmful and backwards policy will now be put where it belongs: in a very short, shameful chapter of US military history.”

She has issued similar comments on Bluesky yesterday when the news of a second ban broke.

“This is not about whether it’s a “right” to serve—it’s about whether we are judged fairly by the same standards as everyone else. And the facts speak for themselves: transgender service members strengthen the force by bringing diverse skills and perspectives to the fight.”

“I don’t ask for special treatment. I ask only to be judged by my actions and contributions. For nearly two decades, I have lived the Army Values and upheld my duties. To suggest otherwise is not just an attack on me, it’s an attack on every Soldier who believes in building a force based on merit.”

Further Changes to the Military Under Trump

As Trump announces more of his cabinet, we’re beginning to see what America will look like under a second term of the former President.

Fox News host and one of Trump’s nominees for Secretary of Defence, Pete Hegseth, last month advocated to remove women from combat roles.

“I’m straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles,” he said in an appearance on the Shawn Ryan Show. “It hasn’t made us more effective, hasn’t made us more lethal, has made fighting more complicated.”