President-elect Donald Trump has promised to sign an executive order on Day 1 of his presidency reinstating a ban on transgender military personnel, a move that U.S. Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) points out would affect nearly 15,000 troops and cost the military $18 billion, according to a nonprofit that advocates for trans service members.
“The key is that Republicans are currently focusing on culture wars instead of actually focusing on our national security. Because to me it makes no sense in a recruitment- and retention-challenging environment to be letting almost 15,000 service members go. We’ve invested a lot of time and money in training.”
Jacobs, whose San Diego-anchored district encompasses several military bases, is introducing a bill this week that seeks to rebuff a possible ban on trans service members — although it faces near-impossible odds in a Republican-controlled House.
Jacobs doesn’t expect to get much support from her colleagues across the aisle.
“It’s doubtful,” Jacobs said. “I know some of my Republican colleagues do really understand the sort of recruitment, retention and readiness challenges that we’re facing. So I’m hopeful, but I think they’re all kind of falling in line at the moment.”
The Defense Department under President Barack Obama in 2016 lifted the longstanding ban on transgender service members, who make up less than 1% of the military’s current ranks of more than 2 million. The next year, Trump announced plans to ban those troops, citing medical costs and disruption, and in 2018 the Defense Department put out an official policy barring members with “gender dysphoria” and whose gender identities do not match their sex at birth.
President Joe Biden reversed the policy his first year in office, but Trump has suggested he would bring it back as an executive order on his first day back in the Oval Office.
“With the stroke of my pen on Day 1 we’re going to stop the transgender lunacy,” Trump said at an event with conservative activists last month. “I will sign executive orders to end child sexual mutilation, get transgender out of the military and out of our elementary schools and middle schools and high schools. And we will keep men out of women’s sports.”
It’s not clear whether Trump will actually follow through on his vow to ban transgender troops. The plan may also face legal hurdles, though the U.S. Supreme Court in 2019 ultimately allowed the Trump ban to go into effect.
Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, appears to share Trump’s views on transgender military members — though Hegseth recently reversed his longstanding opposition to women serving in combat roles. Hegseth wasn’t asked to address his views on trans service members during his confirmation hearing this week.
Jacobs questioned why Republicans are focused on this issue at all, given that a 2021 poll indicated Americans are largely supportive of trans people in the military despite harboring mixed views on trans people in general.
Democratic support for trans rights became a flashpoint in the 2024 presidential election, which was otherwise decided on the economy and inflation.
The Countdown To Trump Is On
Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages.
“A trans military ban isn’t going to lower our grocery costs,” Jacobs said.