A week after beginning his second term, President Donald Trump signed an executive order barring transgender-identifying individuals from military service. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has implemented the administration’s ban, including through review boards handling cases involving transgender troops facing discharge.
But some Navy and Marine Corps boards have voted to retain transgender-identifying service members despite instructions aimed at removing them, according to a report by The New York Times.
“Instead of firing trans Marines, the boards were voting to keep them,” the Times wrote, reporting a similar pattern in the Navy.
According to the report, boards from both services have voted to keep transgender-identifying service members in nine of 12 cases identified by the Times. The outlet said its findings came through interviews with service members and lawyers involved, because officials have not released the outcomes.
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The proceedings, the Times noted, are conducted in secret, and outsiders, including spouses, are not allowed to attend. The three-person panels are made up of officers and enlisted personnel temporarily assigned from their other jobs to hear a single case, like civilian jurors, according to the outlet.
But the boards’ votes are recommendations, not necessarily final decisions. The secretaries overseeing the military branches can reverse them.
Last year, the Pentagon offered payments to transgender-identifying individuals who voluntarily left the military, while others remained to challenge their dismissals. The administration directed review boards to process the remaining cases under strict instructions, the outlet said. “Under the rules, any evidence of transgender feelings or tendencies — even if there is no formal transition — requires dismissal.”
The Times said it has not so far found a similar pattern in the Army or the Air Force, where boards have overwhelmingly voted to discharge transgender-identifying service members.
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