CNN
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President Donald Trump on Monday is expected to sign three executive orders that would reshape the military, including banning transgender service members from serving in the US armed forces, gutting the military’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs, and reinstating service members with backpay who were discharged for refusing to get vaccinated from Covid-19, two White House officials told CNN.
The orders, which were first reported by the New York Post, come as Trump’s nominee to lead the Pentagon, Pete Hegseth, was sworn in as secretary of defense on Saturday. Hegseth has long stated he planned to implement major cultural changes to the military, including ending DEI practices and removing “woke” service members.
Trump had banned transgender Americans form serving in the military in 2017 during his first administration, but then-President Joe Biden issued an order in 2021 repealing the ban.
Hours after being sworn in for his second term last week, Trump signed an order revoking the Biden administration’s 2021 move to allow transgender members to serve. However, the order Trump is expected to sign on Monday goes even further, one of the officials said, and will outline new military standards regarding gender pronouns and state that mental and physical readiness requires transgender service members be banned from the military.
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“It can take a minimum of 12 months for an individual to complete treatments after transition surgery, which often involves the use of heavy narcotics. During this period, they are not physically capable of meeting military readiness requirements and require ongoing medical care. This is not conducive for deployment or other readiness requirements,” one of the officials said, citing a fact sheet.
“The implementation [of the ban] is on the DoD regarding specifics,” the official said. In 2018, there were an estimated 14,000 transgender service members in the US military, according to the Palm Center, an independent research institute that has conducted extensive research on sexual minorities in the military.
A Pentagon memo detailing the ban during Trump’s first term in office recommended making exceptions for transgender service members already serving in uniform who had joined the military under previous policies before the ban took effect; those who do not require a change in gender; and those who had been “stable for 36 consecutive months in their biological sex prior to accession.” It’s unclear if the administration’s new ban will also have exceptions.
A second EO states that any “discriminatory” policies related to DEI in the military will be banned. The order comes after the Trump administration ordered employees in any federal diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility offices to be placed on paid administrative leave “effective immediately.”
All DEI practices in the US armed forces will also be subject to an internal review by Hegseth.
The third executive order directs Hegseth to reinstate all active and reserve service members who were previously discharged for failing to get the Covid-19 vaccine. They will be reinstated with their former rank and given back pay and benefits, one of the officials said. However, the Pentagon had already rescinded the military’s Covid-19 vaccination mandate allowing them to rejoin after Biden signed the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act requiring the change. CNN reported in October 2023 that only 43 of the more than 8,000 US service members who were discharged from the military for refusing to be vaccinated sought to rejoin eight months after the vaccine mandate was officially repealed.
This story has been updated with additional details and background information.
