Army Bans Transgender Recruitment, Pauses Trans Treatments

February 15, 2015–The U.S. Army has effectively banned transgender individuals from enlisting or actively transitioning while in service.

Friday afternoon, the official Army X account, @USArmy, posted the following:

"The #USArmy will no longer allow transgender individuals to join the military and will stop performing or facilitating procedures associated with gender transition for service members.

"Effective immediately, all new accessions for individuals with a history of gender dysphoria are paused, and all unscheduled, scheduled, or planned medical procedures associated with affirming or facilitating a gender transition for service members are paused.

"Individuals with gender dysphoria have volunteered to serve our country and will be treated with dignity and respect."

This policy announcement follows President Trump's Executive Order of Jan. 27th, "Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness. This Order states that:

"Longstanding Department of Defense (DoD) policy (DoD Instruction (DoDI) 6130.03) provides that it is the policy of the DoD to ensure that service members are "[f]ree of medical conditions or physical defects that may reasonably be expected to require excessive time lost from duty for necessary treatment or hospitalization." As a result, many mental and physical health conditions are incompatible with active duty, from conditions that require substantial medication or medical treatment....

"For the sake of our Nation and the patriotic Americans who volunteer to serve it, military service must be reserved for those mentally and physically fit for duty. The Armed Forces must adhere to high mental and physical health standards to ensure our military can deploy, fight, and win, including in austere conditions and without the benefit of routine medical treatment or special provisions."

The Executive Order of Jan. 27th addresses the implementation of President Trump's previous Order of Jan. 20th, 2025, "Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders." Specifically, it concerns the Revocation of EO 14004, "Enabling All Qualified Americans To Serve Their Country In Uniform." EO 14004 was signed by President Biden on Jan. 25, 2021.

The Associated Press reported on Jan. 28th that several legal challenges to President Trump's Jan. 20th order had been filed, including a lawsuit by six current and two ex-service members. Other challenges have been filed by the National Center for Lesbian Rights and GLAD Law, with Lambda Legal and the Human Rights Campaign also considering challenges.

The precise number of transgender/gender dysphoric services members is unknown but has been estimated to be in the thousands.

As of late Friday night, no other service branches had posted a similar policy to social media, but it likely will apply to them as well.

Dr. Bill Chitwood is a retired Child, Adolescent and Family Psychiatrist who does political consulting and media relations. He is the author of Beyond Maga, available on Amazon under his pen name, Doc Contrarian. He can be found on Substack and social media as @DocContrarian.