Opinion | Trump’s Executive Order wrongly and harshly targets transgender community in the military

Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election and immediately began making changes that affect people across the country and the world. One order specifically targets the trans community in the military and is completely, intentionally and unnecessarily cruel.

While many of Trump’s orders affect a large population of people in the U.S., this order specifically took me by surprise because of the timing, blatant cruelty and transphobia behind it. The order discharges trans people from service solely based on the fact that they are transgender — nothing else. It is difficult to understand why Trump would focus so much time and effort on the transgender community in the military, but it might be because this community is seen as a vulnerable and easy target.

This is Trump’s second presidential term, and in his first term, he issued a similar executive order. The prior ban took place in 2017 and stated that members of the military who came out as trans prior to the ban could continue to serve in the military, but those who came out after had to serve in a manner consistent with their biological birth sex. The new ban that was issued last month orders that all service members who have a current diagnosis or symptoms consistent with gender dysphoria will be disqualified from military service and removed from their jobs. 

The memo for the order goes even further than just who is and is not allowed within the military. There are specific instances where trans service members can receive a waiver that they have identified with their birth sex without any clinical distress for 36 months, that they never worked towards medical transitioning and that they will adhere to the standards for their sex within the military. The memo also explains how the Defense Department will only recognize two sexes when it comes to sleeping arrangements, bathrooms and pronouns/salutations. The Department of Defense is also prohibited from providing financial help towards transition care, hormone therapy and surgeries. 

Trump went a step further in specifically calling out trans service members and how they are “dishonorable” by saying that being a trans soldier “conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life.” While the order itself is extremely targeted and negative against the trans community and service members, his reasoning behind it adds to the cruelty and unjustness of the executive order. 

All of the members of the military, no matter their gender and sexual orientation, have taken an oath to the country and to the citizens that reside in it. The way that they identify does not affect that oath and it is hurtful to trans service members to even suggest that it does. 

Trans service members are not only worried about losing their jobs and potentially their homes, if they live on military bases, but they are also scared about being targeted by their fellow soldiers and what may happen to them if they announce their identification.

Since Trump’s announcement of this executive order and many others, protests have taken place across the country to take action against these orders and educate people on what these orders will do to many communities. It is with these protests and continued education on trans rights that positive change against this order can occur and help promote equality for the trans community.

Katie Jones is a first-year nursing student who mainly writes about pop culture, entertainment and social justice. You can write to her at kaj200@pitt.edu