Defense Sec orders immediate "pause" on trans medical "procedures," trans military recruits
The order was issued on Friday, but made public Monday in a court filing in a case challenging Trump's executive order seeking to bar trans people from the military.
On Friday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered an immediate “pause” on gender-affirming “medical procedures” for current transgender service members and on allowing transgender people to join the military.
The memorandum — made public on Monday — followed President Donald Trump’s executive order purporting to bar transgender people from serving in the military, but it also came in the midst of two lawsuits challenging the order and as one judge has already asked extremely skeptical questions about whether Trump’s order is motivated by animus against transgender people.
“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,” Hegseth wrote in the Friday memo.
In a footnote, he detailed that the immediate medical care restriction would not only include surgery but also “newly initiated” hormone therapy — although it wasn’t immediately clear what would constitute “newly initiated.”
Hegseth’s memo came two days after U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes, hearing the D.C.-based challenge to the executive order, ordered DOJ to “immediately notify“ the plaintiffs and the court “if the Department of Defense (or any of its subsidiaries) issues any policy or guidance implementing the challenged Executive Orders in the military” and “before any changes are made to Plaintiffs' status quo in any way, shape, or form.”
The memo was filed as an exhibit to a notice in the case on Monday morning, despite Reyes order to “immediately notify“
It was not immediately clear whether any of the currently serving service member plaintiffs would be affected by the medical care changes, but Reyes did note that she would “entertain a motion for a temporary restraining order should any action be taken against Plaintiffs before the preliminary injunction hearing on February 18, 2025.”
The second lawsuit challenging the executive order was filed on February 6, the day before Hegseth’s memo.
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What are these Right-wing snowflakes so afraid of?
I realize cruelty is the point, and since they're generally cowards, they only want to punch down and attack those they feel are weaker, but it really does make the GQP look weak (we already know they are deeply dumb and bigoted). . . .
Transgender Americans have served at a rate almost 300% greater than the general population. We have fought in every conflict our nation has fought.
We are just as American and just as loyal and just as capable as anyone else and we are particularly skilled in IT, sigint/elint, intelligence analytics, linguistics, community relations, all mission critical areas of military MOS already shorthanded.
Banning us from service is handing a gigantic gift to Russia, Iran, North Korea, and China.