Transgender troops speak up as they're forced out
Consider This from NPR
NPR
4.2 • 6.2K Ratings
🗓️ 16 February 2026
⏱️ 11 minutes
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Summary
President Trump banned transgender people from the military during his first term.
But at the time, service members could continue with their service if they had received an official diagnosis of gender dysphoria.
Citing military excellence and readiness, the second Trump administration is now forcibly removing nearly all remaining openly transgender troops – identifying them by their previous diagnoses of gender dysphoria.
In their parting messages, they and their allies say it’s only hurting, not helping military readiness.
NPR’s Lauren Hodges reports.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It is true that President Trump has now twice banned transgender people from enlisting or serving in the U.S. military, but during the first Trump administration, there was an exception. |
| 0:10.4 | I did what the service asked me to do. It seemed kind of silly to me, but this was what the checklist was. |
| 0:16.8 | Logan Ireland became a master sergeant in the U.S. Air Force, and for a while, he benefited from something of a grandfather clause. |
| 0:24.0 | When the Department of Defense announced its restrictions on trans service members in March of 2019, |
| 0:29.7 | it allowed troops to continue to serve if, by the time the policy went into effect a month later in April, |
| 0:35.8 | they had been diagnosed with gender dysphoria |
| 0:37.7 | by a military doctor. So Ireland rushed to make an appointment and obtain that diagnosis |
| 0:43.1 | of gender dysphoria, even though... I've never felt necessarily dysphoric about who I am. |
| 0:49.6 | You know, I'm, I'm Logan. I happen to be, you know, born female, but I transition to male. And I'm just here living my life and doing my job. |
| 0:57.3 | The diagnosis went on file. Ireland went back to his job. President Biden's administration then reversed the ban on transgender troops. |
| 1:04.7 | You know, we're service members first. We all raise our right hand. We wear the same uniform. We deploy over the world. You know, we not only meet |
| 1:12.1 | but exceed the standards, the only difference is we just happen to be transgender. Then on the first |
| 1:17.1 | day of his second term, President Trump again took aim at trans service members with an executive |
| 1:22.0 | order titled Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness. About a month later, people with |
| 1:27.4 | gender dysphoria were disqualified from military service |
| 1:30.3 | under a new Defense Department policy. |
| 1:33.3 | At the time, the DOD said there were over 4,200 people in the military with a diagnosis of gender dysphoria. |
| 1:40.3 | It doesn't seem real. |
| 1:41.3 | It's been a feeling of being kicked down, being betrayed. |
| 1:46.2 | People like Ireland, who once sought an official diagnosis in order to keep their jobs, |
| 1:50.6 | are now set to lose those jobs because of it. |
| 1:53.8 | Consider this. |
... |
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