Trump inks five new executive actions, including ones banning transgender service members, military DEI programs
WASHINGTON — President Trump signed four executive orders and one proclamation Monday, including edicts prohibiting “gender radicalism in the military” and eliminating Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs from the military.
Trump, 78, told reporters aboard Air Force One that he also signed orders reinstating military members forced out by vaccine mandates; mandating a process to develop an “American Iron Dome”; and a proclamation commemorating the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz during his trip back to Washington from Miami.
The president had signed an order on his first day in office revoking the Biden administration’s 2021 directive that allowed trans people to serve openly in the military, but the new EO goes further.
The Monday order, first previewed by The Post, will directly prohibit any service member who identifies as a gender other than their birth sex from serving or enlisting, on grounds of mental unfitness.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was directed to make and implement the policy after Trump signs the order.
The order also directs Hegseth to ban biological men and women from sharing bathrooms, bedrooms and changing areas while in the military, and puts an end to the use of “invented and identification-based pronoun usage.”
“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,” read the order released by the White House late Monday night. “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.”
“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,” it continued. “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.”
“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.”
Trump signed military executive orders to:
- Discharge service members who identify as transgender or are receiving transgender treatments for failing to meet physical and mental fitness requirements.
- Ban use of “invented” pronouns in the military.
- Ban service members from using bathrooms, changing rooms or bedrooms of the opposite sex.
- End all existing and future DEI programs in the military.
- Order an internal review of all “discrimination” in military due to DEI.
- Prohibit DEI and gender ideologies from being taught in military academies.
- Restore military members discharged for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine.
- Mandate a process to develop an “American Iron Dome.”
There are no current tallies of how many transgender service members are in the services, but a 2016 Defense Department survey estimated there were 8,980 active duty and 5,727 reserve troops who identified as transgender, according to a 2018 report by the Palm Center, a California-based think tank.
That included “1,850 transgender men (who joined the military as women) and 7,129 transgender women (who joined the military as men,)” the report said.
The Pentagon has spent more than $15 million on transgender medical for military personnel since Jan. 1, 2016 — though the practice was paused for a time during Trump’s first term.
The majority of those funds — about $11.5 million — were used for psychotherapy, while about $3.1 million went toward 243 gender reassignment surgeries, according to a 2021 report by Military.com.
In 2017, Trump announced via tweet that the US would no longer “accept or allow” transgender people to be in the military. His administration pursued the ban in 2018, but it was ended by a 2021 executive order signed by then-President Joe Biden.
The Pentagon declined to comment on how long it would take to discharge transgender service members, but the military’s separation process generally takes several months.
The second order, addressing DEI in the armed forces, directs a ban on “race- or sex-based preferences system” by any element of the Armed Forces, the Department of Defense, or the Department of Homeland Security.
All instances of “discrimination” based on DEI practices will be subject to an internal review by Hegseth, the document reads, indicating that some “woke” generals that Trump has vowed to fire could be under question.
Former Coast Guard Commandant Linda Fagan, who once called Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) an “operational imperative,” was fired last week.
Chairman of the Joint Staff Gen. CQ Brown — who had previously spoken out in support of DEI initiatives and discussed his experience as a black airman — had previously been rumored to be a potential target, but Hegseth on Monday told reporters he was “looking forward to working with him.”
Current DEI practices are a “woke assault” on the military brought about by the Biden and Obama administrations and have led to low morale and the lowest recruiting numbers since 1940, the order documents argue.
Trump has also banned all bureaucratic bodies dedicated to DEI in the military — and will direct Hegseth and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to review all academic curricula in US service academies to flush them of “radical DEI and gender ideologies.”
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“As Chief Executive and as Commander in Chief, I am committed to meritocracy and to the elimination of race-based and sex-based discrimination within the Armed Forces of the United States,” read Trump’s latest DEI order. “No individual or group within our Armed Forces should be preferred or disadvantaged on the basis of sex, race, ethnicity, color, or creed.”
“Unfortunately, in recent years civilian and uniformed leadership alike have implemented Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs and their attendant race and sex preferences within the Armed Forces,” it continued. “These actions undermine leadership, merit, and unit cohesion, thereby eroding lethality and force readiness. They also violate Americans’ consciences by engaging in invidious race and sex discrimination.”
“Every element of the Armed Forces should operate free from any preference based on race or sex.”
Hegseth was narrowly confirmed by the Senate as defense secretary Friday night by a vote of 51-50, with Vice President JD Vance breaking the tie.
The new secretary’s initial message to the force, published Saturday, vows to deter China’s aggression and end wars around the world “responsibly” while reorienting to key threats.
“All of this will be done with a focus on lethality, meritocracy, accountability, standards, and readiness,” Hegseth wrote in his statement, echoing similar rhetoric used by the White House.
Trump has already been using the US military to aid in carrying out mass illegal migrant deportations and securing the southern border. He vowed in his inauguration speech that his highest responsibility as commander-in-chief is to “defend our country from threats and invasions.”
The 2024 GOP platform promised to ensure the US military is the “strongest” in the world, along with some other policy points that are being implemented in these incoming executive orders.
“Republicans will ensure our Military is the most modern, lethal and powerful Force in the World,” the platform read.
“We will invest in cutting-edge research and advanced technologies, including an Iron Dome Missile Defense Shield, support our Troops with higher pay, and get woke Left-wing Democrats fired as soon as possible.”
The Iron Dome EO directs Hegseth to submit to the president within 60 days “a reference architecture, capabilities-based requirements, and an implementation plan for the next-generation missile defense shield.”
At a “minimum,” Trump’s order demands plans for a system that would defend the US “against ballistic, hypersonic, advanced cruise missiles, and other next-generation aerial attacks from peer, near-peer, and rogue adversaries” and include “development and deployment” plans for “space-based interceptors” capable of thwarting missile attacks.
The order calls for the plan to be submitted with enough time for it to be considered in the fiscal year 2026 budget.
“Over the past 40 years, rather than lessening, the threat from next-generation strategic weapons has become more intense and complex with the development by peer and near-peer adversaries of next-generation delivery systems and their own homeland integrated air and missile defense capabilities,” the order stated, noting that the directive is in line with the administration’s “goal of peace through strength.”