(WASHINGTON) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered an immediate pause on gender-affirming medical care procedures for all active-duty service members in a memo that was addressed to senior Pentagon leadership and military command.
The Feb. 7, 2025, memo, which was obtained today by ABC News, also ordered an immediate pause on all new promotions in the military for individuals “with a history of gender dysphoria.”
“Effective immediately, all new accessions for individuals with a history of gender dysphoria are paused, and all unscheduled, scheduled, or planned medical procedures associated with affirming or facilitating a gender transition for Service members are paused,” the memo says.
“Individuals with gender dysphoria have volunteered to serve our country and will be treated with dignity and respect,” the memo continued, adding that the Department of Defense would provide “additional policy and implementation guidance” to service members “with a current diagnosis or history of gender dysphoria.”
The memo came after President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 28 rescinding Biden administration policies that permitted transgender service members to serve openly in the military based on their gender identity. The executive order is being challenged in federal court by prominent LGBTQ+ advocacy groups, including Human Rights Campaign, which filed a pair of lawsuits against the Trump administration on behalf of active-duty transgender service members.
The executive order directed the Department of Defense to revise the Pentagon’s policy on transgender service members and stated that “expressing a false “gender identity” divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service.”
The order further argued that receiving gender-affirming medical care is one of the conditions that is physically and mentally “incompatible with active duty.”
“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,” the order continued.
Hegseth echoed this sentiment in the Feb. 7 memo, saying that “efforts to split our troops along lines of identity weaken our Force and make us vulnerable. Such efforts must not be tolerated or accommodated.”
Human Rights Campaign and Lambda Legal filed a federal lawsuit on Thursday on behalf of six active-duty transgender service members, challenging the Trump administration over the president’s ban on transgender service members.
“By categorically excluding transgender people, the 2025 Military Ban and related federal policy and directives violate the equal protection and due process guarantees of the Fifth Amendment and the free speech guarantee of the First Amendment,” the lawsuit said. “They lack any legitimate or rational justification, let alone the compelling and exceedingly persuasive ones required. Accordingly, Plaintiffs seek declaratory, and preliminary and permanent injunctive, relief.”
A similar lawsuit against the Trump administration was filed on Jan. 28 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by advocacy groups GLAD Law and the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) on behalf of six additional active duty service members.
“By categorically excluding transgender people, the 2025 Military Ban and related federal policy and directives violate the equal protection and due process guarantees of the Fifth Amendment and the free speech guarantee of the First Amendment,” the lawsuit said. “They lack any legitimate or rational justification, let alone the compelling and exceedingly persuasive ones required. Accordingly, Plaintiffs seek declaratory, and preliminary and permanent injunctive, relief.”
A similar lawsuit against the Trump administration was filed on Jan. 28 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by advocacy groups GLAD Law and the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) on behalf of six additional active duty service members.
ABC News reached out to the White House regarding the lawsuits but requests for comment were not returned.
The immediate impact of the memo on transgender service members is unclear, but ABC News has reached out to the plaintiffs in each of those lawsuits for comment.
Shannon Minter, lead counsel of NCLR, told ABC News in a statement on Monday that Hegseth’s memo “underscores the urgency of the need for court intervention.”
“The administration is already taking steps to implement the ban even before the stated deadlines in the original executive order,” Minter said. “Transgender applicants are already being turned away and transgender service members are being targeted and denied medically necessary care.”
Court records show that a hearing in this case is scheduled on February 18 in the D.C. district court, where Judge Ana Reyes is presiding over the case.
ABC News’ Briana Stewart contributed to this report.
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