New Pentagon policy undercuts trans troops' ability to ask to stay in...

[Jessica_Rose ✅]

New Pentagon policy undercuts trans troops' ability to ask to stay in the military, AP learns

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/new-pentagon-policy-undercuts-trans-troops-ability-to-ask-to-stay-in-the-military-ap-learns/ar-AA1PAQIE?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=1a6773d48f964cfdb9784780afae8bd1&ei=50 🔗 [Link: msn.com/en-​us/news/us/new-​pentagon-​policy-​undercuts-​trans-​troops-​ability-​to-​ask-​to-​stay-​in-​the-​military-​ap-​learns/ar-​AA1PAQIE/]


WPTZ Plattsburgh-Burlington (1 Nov 2025)

The Pentagon has rolled out a new policy that will severely undercut the ability for transgender troops who have been banned from the armed forces by the Trump administration to turn to boards of their peers to argue for their right to stay in the military, according to a memo obtained by The Associated Press.

If military separation boards decide to allow transgender service members to remain in uniform, commanders can override that decision, according to an Oct. 8 memo to all the services from the Pentagon's undersecretary for personnel and readiness, Anthony Tata. That breaks with longstanding policy that boards act independently.

The new memo, which advocates say was only made available to troops last week, also sets up an additional hurdle of requiring that trans service members appear before separation boards in uniforms that match the gender assigned to them at birth — and if they fail to do so, their absence can be used against them.

The policy — and specifically the uniform mandate — will force a lot of people not to be able to attend their separation board hearings, according to Emily Starbuck Gerson, a spokeswoman for SPARTA Pride, an advocacy group for transgender troops and veterans.

"They're already essentially being rigged with a predetermined outcome, and then now you're further penalizing someone for not showing up because they can't wear the wrong uniform," Gerson added.

[Sephirah]

This all feels like making hurdles for the sake of making hurdles.

During my time in the military, literally no one I was ever around or spoke to had any issue with trans people in the military. Everyone had more things to be concerned about than what uniform someone wore or what barracks they were housed in. The overriding feeling was "This person wants to do something bigger than themselves, and go through a gruelling regime of training to be the best at it they can be." If someone saves your life from a grenade, or your ship going down... the absolute last thing on your mind is going to be whether they should be in the male or female sleeping spaces.

People should be thankful that anyone wants to serve in the military at all. Not make it harder for them because of prejudice they themselves have. People actually doing the job, the vast majority feel very differently to the people behind the desks thinking they know what the rules should be because of how it might look to those who such people are actually trying to defend the way of life they have.

This makes me very sad.