The department issued a memorandum late Tuesday ordering the military to adopt the policy, which will take effect April 12. Under the new rules, troops and recruits can identify as transgender, but must use the uniforms, pronouns, and sleeping and bathroom facilities for their biological sex. They will not be allowed to serve if they have a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, a disorder in which a person’s gender identity does not match their physical gender at birth.
The policy exempts transgender troops who have already transitioned or have begun the medical process. Anyone who defies the regulations in the future would be forced out of uniform.
Pentagon officials were at pains Wednesday to insist that the new rules — which already face a number of legal challenges — do not exclude people based on gender identity.
“This is not a ban,” a high-ranking defense department official told reporters repeatedly during a background briefing given on the condition that he not be named. Transgender people can still serve, he said, “so long as they adhere to the standards of their biological sex.”
Department officials say the new policy ensures equal treatment for all troops. Opponents say it is an attempt to sneak a discriminatory policy past court challenges on constitutional grounds.
“It’s baloney — of course it’s a ban,” said Shannon Minter, a lawyer representing transgender service members who have challenged the policy in federal court.
But the Pentagon says that most serving troops won’t be affected. A 2016 survey found that about 9,000 troops identified as transgender, but as of last month, only about 1,000 had begun the formal transitioning process.
The official at the briefing said the policy simply added gender dysphoria, which he called “a serious mental condition,” to the long list of pre-existing conditions, from asthma to heel spurs, that would disqualify someone from serving.
Transgender people have been allowed to serve openly and transition in the military since a longtime ban was lifted in 2016. The new policy allows the military to grant waivers to transgender recruits, though the experiences of current recruits suggests that waivers may be difficult to get.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.