By Katherine Tinsley
12:02am PDT, Mar 20, 2025
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Donald Trump has been vocal about his thoughts on transgender identity: The president declared there were only two genders during his inauguration.
"The United States military has a clear mission: to protect the American people and our homeland as the world's most lethal and effective fighting force," Trump's executive order reads.
"Success in this existential mission requires a singular focus on developing the requisite warrior ethos, and the pursuit of military excellence cannot be diluted to accommodate political agendas or other ideologies harmful to unit cohesion," he continued.
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Donald Trump often credits issues within the U.S. to "woke" policies and diversity initiatives. The Republican politician continues to roll back Joe Biden's policies on inclusivity.
"The Armed Forces have been afflicted with radical gender ideology to appease activists unconcerned with the requirements of military service like physical and mental health, selflessness and unit cohesion," Trump said.
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Donald Trump alleged that gender affirmation practices could interfere with an officer's duties.
"Consistent with the military mission and longstanding DoD policy, expressing a false 'gender identity' divergent from an individual's sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service," Trump said.
"Beyond the hormonal and surgical medical interventions involved, adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual's sex conflicts with a soldier's commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one's personal life," he continued.
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"A man's assertion that he is a woman, and his requirement that others honor this falsehood, is not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member," Donald Trump continued.
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US District Judge Ana Reyes blocked Donald Trump's order to exclude trans soldiers from the military, dubbing the move unconstitutional.
"The court knows that this opinion will lead to heated public debate and appeals. In a healthy democracy, both are positive outcomes," Reyes wrote.
"We should all agree, however, that every person who has answered the call to serve deserves our gratitude and respect," she added.
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The National Center for Lesbian Rights and GLAD Law said in a statement that transgender soldiers "seek nothing more than the opportunity to continue dedicating their lives to defending the Nation."
"Yet these accomplished service members are now subject to an order that says they must be separated from the military based on a characteristic that has no bearing on their proven ability to do the job," GLAD Law attorneys wrote.
"This is a stark and reckless reversal of policy that denigrates honorable transgender service members, disrupts unit cohesion, and weakens our military," they added.
