House Democrats look to bolster trans military protections

House Democrats plan to unveil legislation Wednesday protecting the ability of transgender people to serve openly in the military as President Trump’s administration works to remove them. 

The “Fit to Serve Act” would prohibit the Defense Department from disqualifying transgender people from service or involuntarily separating members over a current diagnosis, history or symptoms of gender dysphoria, and bar the armed forces from requiring troops to serve only according to their birth sex. It also would forbid the military from denying “medically necessary health care coverage” to service members because of their gender identity, according to a copy of the legislation obtained by The Hill. 

The proposal echoes a separate House bill to prevent the military from hiring or firing someone because of their gender identity that more than 40 House Democrats filed in January ahead of Trump’s inauguration. It also comes as House GOP members move to permanently ban transgender people from serving. 

Rep. Adam Smith (Wash.), the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, intends to file the measure Wednesday morning with Democratic Reps. Mark Takano (Calif.), Chrissy Houlahan (Penn.), Sara Jacobs (Calif.) and Eric Sorensen (Ill.), though Republicans’ race to pass Trump’s “big, beautiful” reconciliation bill may impact the timing, one staffer said. 

Smith, who chaired the Armed Services Committee from 2019 to 2022, spoke in opposition to Trump’s first ban on trans military service and cheered former President Biden’s reversal of the “harmful, discriminatory policy” in 2021. He voted against last year’s annual defense policy bill over a provision prohibiting TRICARE, the military’s health program, from covering gender-affirming care for the children of service members, which Smith said was based on “a biased notion against transgender people.” 

In a statement shared with The Hill, he said the Trump administration’s latest policy “will weaken” the military by needlessly ousting members who have already proven they are fit to serve. 

“Enforcing this bigoted policy for the sake of cruelty and to score partisan points is antithetical to what the United States of America and our Armed Forces stand and fight for,” said Smith. “Transgender service members have put their lives on the line in defense of our freedom — we in Congress must now fight for their ability to serve and their fundamental right to exist.” 

Trump and administration officials since January have sought to enforce a strict gender binary, dismissing transgender identities as “insanity” and equating them with deception in written policy and public remarks. In an executive order signed during his first hours back in office, Trump proclaimed that the federal government recognizes only two sexes, male and female. 

In his order to ban transgender troops from the military, titled Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness, the president wrote that being trans is a “falsehood” and transgender individuals “cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service.” 

“Beyond the hormonal and surgical medical interventions involved, adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual’s sex conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life,” Trump’s order states. 

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has claimed repeatedly that allowing transgender troops to serve in the military threatens its lethality and effectiveness and undermines unit cohesion.

“Efforts to split our troops along the lines of identity weaken our Force and make us vulnerable,” he wrote in a February memo directing department officials to begin enforcing Trump’s order. 

A 2016 RAND Corporation study commissioned by the Pentagon found that allowing trans people to serve had no negative impact on unit cohesion, operational effectiveness or readiness. 

Dozens of transgender service members are challenging the administration’s policy in court, arguing that it discriminates against trans people and violates their constitutional rights. In a recent ruling, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to enforce its restrictions on trans military service after two lower courts blocked them from taking effect. 

“I believe strongly that Trump’s transgender military ban is unconstitutional and will ultimately fail in the courts,” said Takano, chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, “but as a co-equal branch of government, Congress has a duty to protect those who protect us.” 

Trans active-duty service members have until June 6 to self-separate or be forced out, Hegseth wrote in a memo addressed earlier this month to senior leaders at the Pentagon. Those in the National Guard and Reserve have until July 7 to leave voluntarily, Hegseth wrote. 

The move will affect roughly 1,000 service members who openly identify as transgender, according to Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman.