There is a new sheriff in town with President Donald Trump back in the White House and a Cabinet full of people who share his vision.
Under the direction of new Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, the U.S. Army announced on Friday that it will not accept any new transgender members and will not be providing any medical care for transitions.
“The #USArmy will no longer allow transgender individuals to join the military and will stop performing or facilitating procedures associated with gender transition for service members,” the service said in a post on X.
“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,” it added.
“Individuals with gender dysphoria have volunteered to serve our country and will be treated with dignity and respect,” the post continued.
The announcement came a week after Hegseth met with the heads of military academies and told them that he was eliminating Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs.
“Last week, I met with the leadership of @westpoint_USMA, @navalacademy and @af_academy,” he said. “My message was simple: stick to leadership, standards, excellence, war fighting, and readiness. These are MILITARY ACADEMIES, not civilian universities,” the Defense Secretary said.
“I was impressed by the changes already underway and look forward to visiting each institution,” he said. “Social Justice and DEI are OUT; History, Engineering, and War Studies are IN. We must restore the warrior ethos to the @deptofdefense — and it starts with our future leaders.”
Hegseth, meanwhile, provided a key update last month following the deadly air crash in Washington, DC.
During an interview on Fox & Friends, Hegseth defended Trump in partially blaming DEI for the collision involving a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter and a regional jet operated by American Airlines that killed all 67 people.
Co-host Ainsley Earhardt kicked off the segment by saying: “Let’s talk about DEI. What was happening in the control tower? We talked to Congressman Troy Nehls, and he said that at this airport, which is the busiest runway in our country, they needed 30 personnel inside the control tower. There were currently 19 when this crashed. And then there’s a lawsuit that alleged that the FAA turned away nearly a thousand air traffic controller applicants solely based on race last year. And then there is a report that the FAA launched a national outreach program for DTI, which included a push to hire workers with severe intellectual disabilities and psychiatric problems.”
“When you’re a mom, and you’re a dad, and you’re putting your kids on the plane, or you’re flying as a family, that’s unacceptable. We don’t care your race. We want to make sure whoever’s in there that it’s fully manned. And we want to make sure they’re qualified,” Earhardt added.
“Completely unacceptable, Ainsley. You’re exactly right. So I don’t know exactly how the staffing occurred in that particular air traffic control tower. And it sounds like there was a shortage and the investigation will tell us more about that. But the environment around which we choose, pilots or air traffic controllers, as the president pointed out correctly yesterday, better be the highest possible standard, the best of the best who are managing, you know, multiple flights. I mean, a flight a minute and managing radio traffic,” Hegseth replied.
“I think the closest analogy to military service guys is it pilots or air traffic controllers. I don’t care what background they come from, what their race is, what their gender is, if they’re rich or they’re poor, I just need them to be good at their job because I need my flight to land safely. The same thing applies to the Defense Department, to our military. I don’t care about your background, your gender or your skin color. I want the best,” Hegseth added.
This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
