On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he had signed an executive order aimed at eliminating what he referred to as “transgender ideology” from the military, which could represent a significant setback for LGBTQ rights.
Trump shared details of the orders with reporters aboard Air Force One, which also included a call for the development of a U.S. version of Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system. Additionally, he reinstated service members who had been dismissed for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine and extended a government crackdown on diversity programs to the military.
“We will get transgender ideology the hell out of our military to ensure we have the most lethal fighting force in the world,” Trump stated at a Republican congressional retreat in Miami.
While Trump had previously promised to reinstate the ban on transgender service members, it was not immediately clear what steps the new order would involve, as the official details had yet to be released. A White House official accompanying Trump mentioned the order aimed to “eliminate gender radicalism in the military.”
These actions came early in Trump’s second week back in office, coinciding with a welcome ceremony at the Pentagon for his new defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, a military veteran and Fox News personality.
Transgender individuals in the U.S. military have experienced fluctuating policies in recent years. Under the Obama administration, the ban on transgender troops was lifted in 2016, allowing them to serve openly and enabling transgender recruits to join by 2017.
However, the Trump administration reversed this policy, citing concerns about disruption, costs, and military readiness. President Joe Biden moved to reverse Trump’s restrictions shortly after taking office in 2021.
The number of transgender service members is small—estimated at around 15,000 out of more than two million—but removing them could exacerbate recruitment challenges already facing the military.
Trump also reiterated his plan to develop a U.S. version of Israel’s Iron Dome, a system designed to defend against short-range missile threats, despite its limitations against long-range threats that pose the primary danger to the U.S.
“We need to immediately begin the construction of a state-of-the-art Iron Dome missile defense shield, made right here in the USA,” Trump declared in Miami.
