Serving your country while trans
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President Trump addressed the Congress last night. You heard that. Uganda. But let's check in on Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. He tweeted from the car on his way to the address.
It is an honor to be going.
He tweeted again a thank you after Trump mentioned him.
Our service members won't be activists and... They will be fighters and warriors. They will fight for our country. And Pete, congratulations.
Then he went on Fox News this a.m. to discuss enlistment numbers.
From the Marine Corps to the Army to the Air Force to the Navy, we've seen record numbers across the country of Americans saying, I want to serve under the commander-in-chief, President Trump.
Neither Hegseth nor the president mentioned their plan to force transgender service members out of the military. Today on Explained, we're going to do that.
There are so many things that I would not have today if it wasn't for joining the military. I would regret not fighting to stay.
I always thought anxiety and worry were the same thing. But worry is actually, it's a behavior. It's almost like a self-soothing behavior. And people who are very anxious think that if you just worry enough, you won't be anxious anymore. But instead, worry can make you more anxious. Like you're never going to get to the end of the worrying.
If it's a behavior, why not change it? This week on The Gray Area, I talk to Olga Hazan about our personalities and whether we can change them. Listen to The Gray Area with me, Sean Elling. New episodes every Monday, available everywhere.
This is Today Explained.
Noelle King here with Haley Britsky. Haley is CNN's Pentagon reporter and producer, and she's been following the DOD's plan to separate transgender service members from the military. Haley, what does this new Pentagon policy say exactly?
Individuals who have a diagnosis or history of gender dysphoria are no longer eligible to serve.
As of today... It will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female.
All service members will identify as only either male or female, which the policy says is unchangeable during a person's life. And it says their pronouns must reflect that. And it also disqualifies the use of DOD funds for medical procedures and things like hormone therapy and other procedures related to gender transition and things like that. It lays out exceptions for individuals currently serving in the military who will be separated under this policy. You know, it'll be a case by case basis of if a service member is kept in the military despite having a history or a diagnosis of gender dysphoria. If there is a, quote, government interest in keeping them in uniform because they directly support what they say is warfighting capabilities. It also says that they, you know, there are other exceptions. And if they have 36 months of what they say is stability in their sex and can demonstrate they've never attempted to transition and that they can adhere to the standards laid out in the military.
They lay out a few exceptions for people. It's kind of unclear how many people will fall into that category. And especially when we talk about warfighting capabilities, well, what does that actually mean? How will commanders view that or define that within this process? All of that is still kind of in a gray area at this point, as we haven't really started separating people quite yet. Do we know how many people this will affect? We heard last week a senior defense official told reporters that there were a little over 4,000 troops who'd been diagnosed with gender dysphoria across all three components. So that's active duty, military, National Guard, and the Reserve. You know, important to note that not all transgender people have a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria.
So it's kind of unclear how many people, at the end of the day, this is really going to impact people. Between 2014 and 2025, roughly 1,000 individuals in the military received gender-affirming surgery. So that's sort of what we're waiting to see is, okay, in practice, how many people will be impacted by this and ultimately how many would be eligible for waivers or even want to seek a waiver.
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