History And Studies Show Trump Harms Military by Barring Transgender People to Serve
While trump claims responsibility for a surge in Army recruiting that began with the Biden administration, he has undermined the military by banning transgendered people in the military, despite evidence that many of the thousands of transgender veterans have proved their mettle on the battlefields of Afghanistan and Syria.
The Army acknowledged the rise in recruiting but reported that the surge began nearly a year ago, under President Joe Biden, when the Army overhauled much of its nearly $2 billion recruiting program.
“We’re so back,” the White House posted Wednesday evening on X. “The @USArmy has achieved its highest recruiting numbers in 15 years, following a 12-year high in December. Under President Trump’s America First leadership, Americans are answering the call to serve “
A day earlier, Hegseth claimed that December had been the Army’s best month for recruiting in 12 years, and that the service “hit its best recruiting number” in 15 years in January.
“BOTTOM LINE: America’s youth want to serve under the bold & strong ‘America First’ leadership of @realDonaldTrump,” Hegseth wrote.
In contradicting claims of bolstered recruitment under trump, U.S. Army Recruiting posted on X that December was the most productive month for recruitment in 15 years as 346 soldiers enlisted each day. For the 2024 Fiscal Year, which ended in September, the Army met its goal of recruiting 55,000 active-duty soldiers. Based on its success, the Army announced in October that it had increased its recruiting target for this fiscal year by 6,000 new soldiers. The Army missed its recruiting target the prior two years.
Defense Secretary Pete Hesgeth has long opposed transgenders in the military.
“Transgender people should never be allowed to serve. It’s that simple,” Hegseth wrote in his most recent book.
Trump was motivated by politics when he imposed a ban of transgendered people in the military on January 1. His order will undermine the military and set back recruiting.
People who identify as transgender make up less than 1 percent of the American population. In the U.S. military, slightly more than 1 percent of troops are transgender, or about 15,000 to 25,000 Americans, making the Pentagon the largest employer of transgender people in the country.
Trump and Hesgeth offered no evidence for their assault on transgender people in the Army. The ban was filled with bias and misinformation.
“Expressing a false ‘gender identity’ divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service,” the trump order said. “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,” declared the order.
Trump’s argument that openly transgenders soldiers are harmful to unit cohesion is the same excuse put forth in the past to exclude Blacks, women and gays form the armed forces.
In 2017, trump imposed restrictions on transgender veterans despite comments by the leaders of all four services that transgender veterans posed no harm to units. Trump’s 2017 ban on transgender troops was tied up in the courts for years before it was overturned by President Joe Biden after his 2021 inauguration.
A Rand report in 2016 examined the costs of gender transition health care, transition related treatments and the impact on force readiness and the deplorability of transgender service members.
At the time, there were an estimated 2,450 transgender personnel in the active military out of a total number of around 1.3 million active-duty service members and 1,510 in the Selected Reserve.
Estimates from survey data and private health insurance claims data indicate that, each year, between 29 and 129 active service members will seek transition-related care.
The report showed that the limited research on the effects of foreign military policies indicates little or no impact on unit cohesion, operational effectiveness or readiness. Commanders noted that the policies had benefits for all service members by creating a more inclusive and diverse force.
“Policy changes to open more roles to women and to allow gay and lesbian personnel to serve openly in the U.S. military have similarly had no significant effect on unit cohesion, operational effectiveness or readiness,” the report found.
The report recommended that the Defense Department “should ensure strong leadership and identify and communicate the benefits of an inclusive and diverse workforce to successfully implement a policy change and successfully integrate openly serving transgender service members into the force.”
The report said the Defense Department should provide education and training to the rest of the force on transgender personnel policy. The department also should develop and enforce a policy that addresses harassment aimed at transgender personnel alongside other targets of harassment.
A 2019 report by the Northwestern University Law Review found that the trump administration’s ban on transgender individuals serving in the military “is based on prejudice and bias, lacking any legitimate justification.”
The Northwestern report found that the transgender military ban cannot be justified on legal grounds or for reasons of health and safety. There is no basis to the trump claims that transgenders should be barred because of problems of efficiency, preparedness or combat readiness.
Despite transgender individuals serving openly in the military in recent years, the trump administration could provide no proof that transgender service members undermine combat readiness and thus pose a risk to the military.
The report concluded that the trump policy “is unjustifiably discriminatory on the basis of gender identity” that it “perpetuates harmful stereotypes and stigmas that have serious consequences in society generally, and specifically, for transgender service members and their families.”
The policy also unfairly singles out transgender members of the military through “coercion and shaming,” forcing trans military service members to obtain a psychological diagnosis of gender dysphoria in order to continue in their military employment. The report found that “promoting equality in the military will only occur when those who wish to, and are qualified to, serve are permitted to do so with dignity and respect.”
Armed Service Support
At the time of the 2017 ban, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Dave Goldfein told Congress that he was not aware of any negative effects from transgender personnel serving, joining all three other service chiefs in disagreeing with trump during his first term.
At a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Kristen Gillibrand, D-N.Y., asked Goldfein about issues over transgender veterans.
“In the last two weeks Gen. [Mark] Milley, Gen. [Robert] Neller, and Adm. [John] Richardson have told me that they have seen zero reports of issues of cohesion, discipline, morale as a result of open transgender service in their respective service branches,” Gillibrand said, referring to the chiefs of staff of the Army, Marine Corps and Navy, respectively.
Goldfein said he was not aware of any issues with transgender service members, and that among service members he spoke with, he found a “commitment to serve by each of them.”
The three other service secretaries testified that they knew of no problems with unit cohesion involving transgender veterans.
Navy: “By virtue of being a Navy sailor, we treat every one of those Navy sailors, regardless, with dignity and respect,” said Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson. “That is warranted by wearing the uniform of the United States Navy. By virtue of that approach, I am not aware of any issues.”
Marine Corps: “By reporting those Marines that have come forward, there’s 27 Marines that have identified as transgender, one sailor serving. I am not aware of any issues in those areas,” said Marine Commandant Gen. Robert Neller.
Army: “We have a finite number. We know who they are, and it is monitored very closely, because, you know, I’m concerned about that, and want to make sure that they are, in fact, treated with dignity and respect. And no, I have received precisely zero reports,” said Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley.
In March 2018, the White House announced that service secretaries would decide on whether or not to allow transgender personnel to serve. The directive added that transgender personnel with a diagnosis of gender dysphoria would be prohibited from serving. Gender dysphoria is a condition where a person experiences discomfort with their biological sex. But experts said that “gender dysphoria” is a broad diagnosis that does not indicate more serious issues.
At the time, Mattis also listed several other limitations on transgender service, including extending the time someone would need to be stable in their preferred sex to 36 months and a prohibition on service members who have undergone corrective surgery.
Trump’s latest anti-transgender policy is the focus of a lawsuit filed by seven current and former military service members and an organization in support of the suit . The lawsuit claims that the ban violates the equal protection and due process guarantees of the Fifth Amendment and the free speech guarantee of the First Amendment.
Foreign Policies
There are 18 or 19 countries that permit transgender individuals to serve, according to a 2014 report by the Netherlands-based Hague Centre for Strategic Studies (HCSS).
Each policy varies. Thailand, for instance, limits jobs open to transgender service members, while Belgium mandates that trans people undergo surgery so their body “conform with conventional ideas of what a male or female human body looks like” and also requires they be sterilized, according to HCSS.
HCSS noted that in Canada, 19 service members “completed sex reassignment surgery between 2008 and 2015 for a total cost of $319,000.”
The United Kingdom expects transgender enlistees to “have finished transitioning before they are allowed to serve,” according to the HCSS. U.K. law requires citizens to live two years in their “acquired gender” before being eligible for official recognition and enlistment. One veteran of Iraq, Afghanistan, Northern Ireland, and the Balkan conflict was quoted in the report saying, “only if individuals are free to be themselves can we release the genie of their potential, for the greater good.”
Service in the Israel Defense Forces has included LGBT members since 1993.
Australia admitted gay and lesbian service members in 1992, and in 2010 permitted transgender service. “The Australian Air Force has published guidance on how to improve the inclusion of transgender personnel who are transitioning while serving,” HCSS reported.
New Zealand is listed as one of the most LGBT-friendly militaries in the world.
Argentina’s gender law is “the most inclusive in the world, as it allows individuals to change their official gender without the approval of a judge or doctor, and without surgery.”
Bolivia opened the armed forces’ ranks to LGBT people in 2015.
Austria’s military is open to LGBT individuals, under a policy that “all male Austrian citizens between the ages of 17 and 51 are subject to compulsory military service.”
The Czech Republic extended full military service rights to LGBT people in 1999.
Denmark allows open LGBT military service but it wasn’t until 2014 when the nation removed deemed that transgender people be sterilized.
Sweden extended full protection from discrimination to all LGBT people in its military ranks in 2008.
Norway was the first nation to bar anti-LGBT discrimination in employment practices in 1981 and transgender service is accepted in the armed forces.
Finland admitted gays in the military in 1981 and in 2003, established legal standards for gender transitioning.
Estonia permits full military service by LGBT people , requiring transgender individuals to live for two years in their desired gender before securing legal recognition.
The Dutch military was the first to permit LGBT troops in 1974.
Spain opened the ranks to LGBT people in 2005.
Germany allowed LGBT people to enlist in 1990, and were allowed to pursue commissions in 2000.