Washington, 28 February (IANS). The Pentagon has directed the army to complete the procedures by 26 March to identify members suffering from gender dysphoria. President Trump ordered a month ago by President Trump.
Once identified, the army will have 30 days to remove them from service.
In this regard, on Thursday, the Defense Department in a memorandum issued a directive to the army to complete the procedures to identify the service members suffering from gender dysphoria by 26 March.
The order is based on an executive directive signed by President Trump at the beginning of his term, stating steps to ban transgenders from military service. The policy has faced legal challenges.
According to preliminary estimates, hundreds of transgender service members can be identified through medical records – a small part of 2.1 million active soldiers.
However, the issue has become a major focus to the Pentagon, as President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are pressurizing them to remove them, that their medical condition does not meet military standards.
Derin Cellic, working as Defense Under Secretary Personnel, said in the new memorandum, “People who currently have diagnosis or history of gender dyspheoria or who exhibit symptoms of it, medical, surgery and mental health restrictions on them are inconsistent with high mental and physical standards required for military service.”
It claimed that there is a lot of risk in military service and is “incompatible” than transgender personnel in this service, which goes through a period of change during work that is not good for them. It suggests an order that the gender is “irreversible, unchanged during a person’s life.”
The lawyers representing the six transgender service members challenging Trump’s executive order argued in the court documents that this instruction shows “enmity” towards transgenders, considers them “uneven and unnecessary” and reduces their dignity in the eyes of fellow service members and public.
Sarah Warbello, vice -president of legal matters in the human rights campaign, said that this policy puts the service members in a difficult situation, which puts pressure on transgender soldiers.
Warbello said, “Suddenly, you will need to reveal your identity. It will be necessary to tell other people.”
“If you have a best friend in the army who knows that you are a transgender, then under this new guideline, if you are a female transgender then you have to start saying ‘sir’.”
Warbello stated that soldiers would have to choose one of their friends’ safety and violating direct orders “. Transgender may feel pressure on his identity, as they know that they can be punished if they do not come forward.
US officials on Thursday estimated that around 600 transgender personnel in the Navy and 300 and 500 in the army can be identified through medical records.
-IANS
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