The move is another setback for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has made culture war issues a major part of his role.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has faced pressure from Democrats to follow the court order, suggesting he was undermining military recruitment needs. | Kevin Wolf/AP
The Pentagon will resume gender-affirming care for transgender service members, according to a memo obtained by POLITICO, an embarrassing setback to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s efforts to restrict their participation.
The memo says the Defense Department is returning to the Biden-era medical policy for transgender service members due to a court order that struck down Hegseth’s restrictions as unconstitutional. The administration is appealing the move, but a federal appeals court in California denied the department’s effort to halt the policy while its challenge is pending.
As a result, the administration is barred from removing transgender service members or restricting their medical care, a priority of President Donald Trump and Hegseth. The administration insisted its restrictions were geared toward people experiencing medical challenges related to “gender dysphoria,” but two federal judges said in March that the policy was a thinly veiled ban on transgender people that violated the Constitution.
The Trump administration on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to allow the Pentagon to ban transgender servicemembers while legal battles continue to play out.
Both judges ordered the military to refrain from forcing out more than 1,000 transgender troops and to resume providing for their medical care, including surgical procedures and voice and hormone therapy. The memo is the latest move by the Pentagon to comply with those orders.
But it presents another headache for Hegseth, who has made culture war issues — such as changing recruitment standards and reinstating the ban — a key piece of his effort to make the military more lethal. Hegseth has emphasized this theme as he’s sought to defend himself amid multiple scandals, including texting sensitive details of military operations in Yemen to multiple Signal group chats and a vicious brawl between his top advisers.
“Service members and all other covered beneficiaries 19 years of age or older may receive appropriate care for their diagnosis of [gender dysphoria], including mental health care and counseling and newly initiated or ongoing cross-sex hormone therapy,” Dr. Stephen Ferrara, the Pentagon’s acting assistant secretary of Defense for health affairs, said in a memo dated April 21.
President Donald Trump signed a long-expected order banning transgender people from serving in the military at the outset of the administration, just as he had done in 2017. But LGBTQ advocacy groups quickly pounced, calling the order discriminatory.
So far, the courts have rejected the Pentagon’s arguments that including transgender troops reduces the military’s ability to fight. U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle ruled in March that there is no evidence that transgender troops harm military readiness, and ordered the Pentagon to return to the status quo.
A three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday became the first appellate court to hear arguments on Trump’s transgender military policy but gave little indication of how it might rule.
Defense officials acknowledged in a March memo sent to Pentagon leadership that the agency would comply with the court order, but did not detail the steps the department would take to follow it. Hegseth has openly attacked one of the judges, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes, for her order, labeling her “Commander Reyes” in a pejorative post on X.
Hegseth has faced pressure from Democrats to follow the court order, suggesting he was undermining military recruitment needs.
“Given the unwillingness or inability of 99.6 percent of the U.S. population to serve in our military, the last thing our nation should be doing is rejecting patriotic Americans who are ready and willing to serve our country,” a group of 14 Senate Democrats, led by Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), an Iraq veteran, wrote Tuesday to Hegseth. “The Trump administration’s repeated attacks on the transgender community reveal an ideological obsession rooted in a poor understanding of science.”
The Pentagon referred questions to the Justice Department, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A February memo signed by then-acting undersecretary for personnel and readiness Darin Selnick — who was fired by Hegseth last week — said service members or potential recruits interested in the military who have “a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria” are “incompatible” with U.S. military service.
Some officials saw the move as a capitulation by the administration, which was settling for a loss in court while continuing to wage a public relations war to keep transgender service members out of the military.
“They’ve scared all of the trans people off,” said one person close to the Pentagon familiar with the conversations, granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue. “What’s to be gained by continuing to fight with the courts? It seems pretty easy to stop getting crazy with it. You won. You got what you wanted.”
Roger suggested I look up this person and see what they had to say. I have read snippets of what he wrote and I like his message. He seems sincere and genuine. Hugs
I was putting together a post on this, then saw tengrain had already done so, so here it is. There is an additional snippet/link from LawDork beneath the MPS window here; I was tossing around which parts to snip for a post when I opened MPS’s page.
SCOTUS conservatives seem eager to increase parents’ religious rights in public schools by Chris Geidner
Tuesday’s arguments over Montgomery County schools’ story-time sessions included alarming questions about LGBTQ people. Read on Substack
The U.S. Supreme Court’s conservatives appeared eager on Tuesday to side with parents wanting to opt their students out of story-time sessions in Montgomery County’s public schools in Maryland that included a handful of books that contain same-sex couples and discussion of what it means to be transgender.
The question brought to the court by the parents’ lawyers from the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is not whether schools can do so — as many do — but rather whether the First Amendment’s free exercise guarantee constitutionally requires it.
The school district has argued — and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit agreed — that teachers simply reading the books and students being exposed to these ideas do not constitute “coercion” such that parents’ free exercise rights are implicated.
But, in an alarming sign for LGBTQ people, it was clear that at least three of the justices believe that describing queer people accurately — acknowledging their equal existence — amounts to taking sides or trying to “influence” children.
More broadly, and after two-and-a-half hours of arguments at the Supreme Court, it was clear that the argument from the parents — with backing from the Trump administration — is going to prevail. The only real question was how the court will resolve the case. Given the different paths the court can take, though, the answer to that question is important.
It was, however, a lopsided argument that showed how extreme the “religious freedom” arguments have gotten in front of a court that has made clear that it backs religious supremacy over many — if not most — other constitutional rights. (snip-MORE)
If you’re anything like us (gay and deeply unwell), a certain five-word phrase has been echoing in your head since Saturday evening: “Get me to God’s country.” For those of blessed readers who have no idea what we’re talking about, allow us to explain. Country singer Morgan Wallen, who I had never heard of before this weekend, was the most recent musical guest on Saturday Night Live, with recent Oscar winner Mikey Madison serving as the show’s host. He abruptly walked offstage as the show was ending, still fully on camera, then proceeded to post a picture of a jet with the caption, “Get me to God’s country.”
Considering that this guy apparently called his neighbor the N-word in a highly publicized 2021 incident (for which he later apologized), it’s hard to place much stock in Wallen’s judgement about which American geography is holy and which isn’t. (Besides, a certain gay little website is headquartered in New York too, so it’s personal.) Thankfully, the gay internet immediately did what it does best and proceeded to meme the hell out of Wallen’s words. Below, scroll through some of our faves. (snip-I can’t possibly snag all of these! They’re a worthy click. -A)
I’ve been wrestling with whether to post this, or not. I want to always advise of resources for marginalized people to find community. However, these are religious resources. They’re the sort that emphasize inclusion and welcome and community, though, so that wins out, for me. I’m going to post this, hoping that someone will be able to use the information or knows someone else who can. I don’t know if there is an audience here for such things, so this would be the time to comment as to Yea, post these when I see them, or no comments/Nay being there is no one who might use these, and I’ll save the space in future. Thanks for your time! There is no proselytization intended with this post. It’s only to try to reach any- and everyone who is looking for community. These came from my Sojourners magazine. They’re simple resources that one can check out with no obligation or identification.
(Having only just now (10 PM Sunday) opened the email with this comic, I’m quite late; I’d saved it for a possible post, and it got buried. No matter, though; the message is good for more than one day, IMO. Everyone should be welcome everywhere every day, as they are welcome here. So, enjoy a comic. -A)
If you look past the Matt Walsh crap Hasan gets to talking about people who are passing as the gender they identify as. And that is one reason why the red states are pushing so hard to trans block kids from using puberty blockers while allowing them for cis kids, they work and are safe but the trans kids won’t go through the wrong puberty giving them the wrong features we normally associate with genders. These people are terrified they won’t recognize who is trans because they pass so well. It shouldn’t be the issue I know as many wonderful trans people who had to go through the wrong puberty are still the gender they know and identify as. Sadly two things are at work. The two groups working together to stop trans positive or any positive LGBTQ+ inclusion / equality are the fundamentalist religious groups who think the entire world should run according to their faith … yet they have different faiths so … and the republican politicians who use it as a way to win votes and keep their base outraged. Both groups have their own agenda and they both ignore science and facts to create the narrative / outrage they desire rather than create a peaceful loving inclusive society. Oh I guess I forgot the white supremacist Nazi’s but they really fall under the Fundamentalist Christian banner right? Hugs.
Scottie's Playtime 