On Tuesday, President Trump’s transgender military ban was put into effect by the Supreme Court on Tuesday.  

The court voted 5-4, granting the Trump administration’s request to lift the injunctions blocking the policy while arguments continued in lower courts. The four liberal judges objected to the ruling. The policy, first announced by President Trump in July 2017 via Twitter, prohibits “transgender persons who require or have undergone gender transition” from serving.  The policy was later announced again by then-Secretary of Defense James Mattis in 2018, blocks individuals who have been diagnosed with a condition known as gender dysphoria from serving with limited exceptions. It also specifies that individuals without the condition can serve, but only if they do so according to the sex they were assigned at birth. According to the Department of Defense data analyzed by the Palm Center, there are currently approximately 8,980 active duty transgender troops.  

The Pentagon wanted to clarify that the policy is not a ban on all transgender persons from the military, in a statement released after the Supreme Court action.  

Lt. Col. Carla Gleason, a Pentagon spokesperson, told CNN that, “As always, we treat all transgender persons with respect and dignity. (The Department of Defense’s) the proposed policy is NOT a ban on service by transgender persons. It is critical that DoD is permitted to implement personnel policies that it determines are necessary to ensure the most lethal and combat effective fighting force in the world. DoD’s proposed policy is based on professional military judgment and will ensure that the U.S. Armed Forces remain the most lethal and combat effective fighting force in the world.”  

Laura Durso, Vice President for the LGBT Research and Communications Project at the Center for American Progress said the policy was, “dehumanizing.”  

“This is the cruel centerpiece of the Trump administration’s agenda to prevent the full inclusion of transgender people in public life,” Durso said. “It undermines military readiness and perpetuates the fear across the transgender and allied communities that this government will not protect them, not even those who would sacrifice everything to protect our nation.” 

“Currently serving members are not impacted. Only recruits are subject to mental health restrictions and must conform to dress code/physical standards like everyone else,” Said Chad Felix Greene in a tweet. “71% of 17- to 24-year-olds are ineligible to join the military due to medical, mental, or behavioral reasons.”