1. United States
2. Texas
3. Letter

The Trump administration is forcing thousands of transgender troops out of the military based on identity, not performance. Retired four-star General Stanley McChrystal presided over a retirement ceremony this month for five transgender service members forcibly separated under the ban, calling it “unfortunate and unfair” and a direct hit to mission readiness. Col. Bree Fram, an astronautical engineer who deployed to Iraq and Qatar and was the highest-ranking transgender officer in the U.S. Space Force, was one of them. Military attorney Priya Rashid, who represents several of these troops, told NPR the separation boards are “generally predetermined” and that the Pentagon “has set itself up to purge these people out of our ranks.” As of December 2024, 4,240 active duty, Guard, and Reserve troops carried a gender dysphoria diagnosis. Every military branch’s then-Chief of Staff testified under Biden that open transgender service had no negative impact on readiness. The American Medical Association and American Psychiatric Association both oppose the ban on clinical grounds. Defense Secretary Hegseth has made mission readiness his defining argument for the department, but he’s discharging combat-proven specialists whose training took years and significant taxpayer investment, with no performance failures on record. Congress has the authority to stop this. Co-sponsor the Fit to Serve Act, introduced in May 2025, which would bar the military from separating service members solely on the basis of gender identity. Push the Armed Services Committees to hold oversight hearings on the readiness costs of these discharges, including the recruitment and replacement training expenses the Pentagon has not disclosed publicly. McChrystal was clear about it. If the U.S. faces a major conflict and needs to mobilize, turning away qualified personnel based on identity alone leaves gaps we cannot fill quickly. U.S. forces are deployed or on alert across multiple theaters right now. The people being discharged carried deployments, security clearances, and technical specializations that take years to replace. We’re throwing that away for politics, and readiness will pay for it.