The Defense Department will resume providing gender-affirming care to service members, undermining the Trump administration’s efforts to remove transgender people from the US military.
A Pentagon memo dated Monday and released Thursday states that the department will resume surgical procedures and cross-sex hormone therapy for individuals, including troop dependents, as first reported by Politico.
“Service members and all other covered beneficiaries 19 years of age and older may receive appropriate care for their diagnosis of [gender dysphoria], including mental health care and counseling, as well as newly initiated or ongoing cross-sex hormone therapy,” according to the memo signed by Stephen Ferrara, acting assistant secretary of Defense for health affairs. “Service members may also receive voice therapy and appropriate surgical procedures.”
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment.
The directive comes after two federal judges blocked the Pentagon’s ban on transgender service members last month, and a third temporarily prevented the military from separating two transgender Air Force members in a more limited ruling.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes of Washington, D.C., who initially blocked the ban, described the administration’s policy as “soaked in animus.” The Pentagon is appealing the decision, and the Justice Department asked the Supreme Court earlier Thursday to allow President Trump to enforce his ban.
Trump has long sought to exclude transgender service members from the ranks, both during his first term (a policy that President Biden later reversed) and again in January, when he declared transgender troops could not meet the “rigorous standards” required to serve.
In his most recent ban, Trump sought to both expel currently serving troops with a diagnosis or history of gender dysphoria and prevent potential service members with that diagnosis from enlisting.
According to Ferrara’s memo, the department will return to the Biden-era medical policy for transgender service members as a result of the court order that lifted the administration’s restrictions.
Troops can now begin receiving care from military medical treatment facilities and the Supplemental Health Care Program (SHCP), which allows them to see civilian doctors.
According to Ferrara, all waivers issued through the SHCP that had been “paused and subsequently cancelled” are now reinstated.
The move is a setback for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has made culture war issues a focal point of his efforts to return the military to its primary mission of fighting.
During a speech at the Army War College on Wednesday, Hegseth emphasized the military’s commitment to eliminating social engineering, climate change worship, electric tanks, gender confusion, pronouns, excuses, quotas, and woke bullshit.
