Pentagon to resume medical care for transgender troops

The Pentagon will resume gender-affirming care for transgender service members, according to a memo obtained by POLITICO, an embarrassing setback to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s efforts to restrict their participation.

The memo says the Defense Department is returning to the Biden-era medical policy for transgender service members due to a court order that struck down the restrictions as unconstitutional. A federal appeals court in California denied the department’s effort to halt the policy while its challenge is pending.

As a result, the administration is barred from removing transgender service members or restricting their medical care, which two federal judges said in March that the policy was a thinly veiled ban on transgender people that violated the Constitution.