A new internal Pentagon memorandum states that President Donald Trump’s administration will update records for transgender soldiers in the U.S. Army to “reflect biological sex for all individuals.”
According to internal guidance obtained by Reuters, the Army is working to change the records of transgender soldiers to reflect only the “biological sex” of service members. The outlet noted that the records of transgender soldiers reflected personal gender identity under former President Joe Biden’s administration.
In a 14-page memorandum, the Pentagon said, “Commanders will take immediate measures to update personnel records and administrative systems to reflect biological sex for all individuals.”
The Pentagon’s memorandum noted that the U.S. Army considers an individual’s sex to be “unchanging during a person’s life.” In a February memorandum, the Department of Defense announced, “The Department only recognizes two sexes: male and female. An individual’s sex is immutable, unchanging during a person’s life. All Service members will only serve in accordance with their sex.”
In the Army’s new internal guidance, the Department of Defense noted that the use of pronouns to describe service members in the Army “must reflect their biological sex. The memorandum added, “In keeping with good order and discipline, salutations (e.g., addressing a senior officer as ‘sir’ or ‘ma’am’).”
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The Army’s internal memorandum also noted that a service member’s access to “intimate spaces” will be determined based on an individual’s biological sex, not by gender identity.
“Commanders will ensure all such shared intimate spaces will be clearly designated for either male, female, or family use,” the Army stated.
Earlier this month, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced that the Pentagon would be implementing Trump’s transgender military ban in light of the Supreme Court’s decision to stay an injunction that had previously blocked the administration from moving forward with the ban on transgender individuals serving in the U.S. military.
“Service by individuals with a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibiting symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria is not in the best interest of the Military Services and is not clearly consistent with the interests of national security,” Hegseth said.
The secretary of defense explained that U.S. military members with a “current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria” would be able to voluntarily separate from the military before the Pentagon moves forward with “involuntary separation processes” for transgender military members who do not voluntarily leave the military.
