Rank-and-file military members are rejecting trans expulsion orders...

[Jessica_Rose ✅]

Rank-and-file military members are rejecting trans expulsion orders: "Not going to play that game"

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/10/rank-and-file-military-members-are-rejecting-trans-expulsion-orders-theyre-not-going-to-play-that-game/ 🔗

Greg Owen (23 Oct 2026)

Review boards tasked with expelling trans troops from the U.S. military aren't performing as expected.

The boards, composed of everyday uniformed service members, are voting to keep their trans colleagues.

It's a remarkable rebuke up the chain of command to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who has vilified trans service members as part of a "woke" cadre of "fatties," "tr***ies," "beardos," and "weirdos" infiltrating the military.

Navy and Marine Corps boards have voted to retain trans members in nine of 12 cases since their hearings started in July. The Army rejected expulsion in five cases among several dozen it has heard since February. Only the Air Force panels have voted to expel all trans service members in the six cases it has heard since meetings started over the summer.

"These boards are being told to do something that they know is wrong – to rubber-stamp a non-choice given to them by the administration," Rachel VanLandingham, a former Air Force lawyer and a professor at Southwestern Law School, told The New York Times.

"We are seeing them say they're not going to play that game. We are seeing them nullify a process they see as unjust."   

The three-member "separation" boards were created to provide a veneer of due process in Hegseth and President Donald Trump's crusade against transgender officers and troops in the military, a reboot of the same effort in Trump's first term. Under the rules, any evidence of a service member being transgender requires dismissal.

@Sarah B