Transgender troops told to voluntarily leave US Navy or be forced out
The US Navy has updated its transgender policy. (Getty)
A new policy released by the Navy states that transgender officers currently in active service will have until 28 March either to take a voluntary honourable discharge, or be involuntarily released.
Guidance released on Thursday (13 March) explained that Marines and sailors who do not identify with the gender assigned to them at birth must either take the voluntary honorable separation or else be forcibly removed from service later this month.
Those who do choose to voluntarily separate will reportedly receive separation pay depending on their years of service and will not receive a pay back bonus or incentive pay.
“The Department of the Navy recognise two sexes: male and female,” a memo signed by Navy secretary, Terence Emmert, reads. “An individual’s sex is immutable, unchanging during a person’s life.”
It comes as part of a campaign to ban trans people from all parts of the US military following an executive order signed by US president Donald Trump shortly following his inauguration.
Defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, signed a ban on trans troops in the US military in early February, saying that the government “must ensure it is building ‘one force’ without sub-groups defined by anything other than ability or mission adherence.”
There is no evidence suggesting that trans troops are any less capable than cisgender military service members.
In its own enforcement of the ban, the US Navy said it would take no action to identify trans sailors or Marines, instead expecting them to come forward.
“The chief of naval operations and the commandment of the Marine Corps will maximise the use of all available command authorities to ensure impacted personnel are afforded dignity and respect,” the memo continues.
It noted that the US Navy is currently uncertain as to how many sailors and Marines the policy will affect, but estimates that at least 4,240 service members are serving across the active duty and reserve components in the military.
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), which has called the ban “dangerous and discriminatory,” reported that at least 15,000 active-duty personnel are transgender or non-binary.
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