Donald Trump banned trans people from serving in the military during his first term (Picture: Getty/EPA)

Trans US troops will be separated from their fellow cisgender service members unless they receive an exception, a new memo has revealed.

The note to the Pentagon effectively bans trans people from joining or serving in the military.

Defence officials have been tasked to create a procedure that can identify personnel diagnosed with gender dysphoria and expel them by June 25.

Those separated from the army will include service members receiving hormone therapy or have undergone gender-affirming surgery.

‘It is the policy of the United States Government to establish high standards for service member readiness, lethality, cohesion, honesty, humility, uniformity, and integrity,’ the memo dated February 26 said.

‘This policy is inconsistent with the medical, surgical, and mental health constraints on individuals with gender dysphoria or who have a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria.’

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The memo, revealed in court documents filed yesterday, is almost word-for-word the same as a January executive order issued by Donald Trump restricting trans military personnel.

But this goes one step further, giving trans troops only two options. They must either serve under their ‘birth sex’ or obtain a waiver.

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It states: ‘The Department only recognises two sexes: male and female. An individual’s sex is immutable, unchanging during a person’s life. All service members will only serve in accordance with their sex.’

An exemption will only be provided if ‘there is a compelling government interest in retaining the service member that directly supports warfighting capabilities’.

Personnel must meet strict criteria, the memo added, including that they ‘demonstrate 36 consecutive months of stability in the service member’s sex without clinically significant distress’.

Separated service members will receive an honourable discharge unless their record indicates they should receive a lower-level discharge.

Estimations can vary, but only a few thousand trans troops are said to be serving (Picture: Getty Images) Since returning to the Oval Office, Donald Trump has unleashed a raft of executive orders targeting trans people (Picture: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Trump’s directive, ‘Prioritising military excellence and readiness’, does not use the word ‘transgender’ but says the military has been ‘afflicted with radical gender ideology’.

The president gave the Department of Defence powers to bar trans soldiers by considering identifying as a gender other than the one assigned at birth as grounds for disqualification.

The order came after another directive pushed federal agencies to only recognise two genders, male and female, as assigned at birth.

Shannon Minter of the National Center For Lesbian Rights (NCLR) said: ‘The scope and severity of this ban is unprecedented. It is a complete purge of all transgender individuals from military service’.

The Pentagon memo was filed as an exhibit by the DoD in Talbott v. Trump, a federal lawsuit challenging Trump’s executive order banning trans troops.

‘My being transgender has no bearing on my dedication to the mission, my commitment to my unit, or my ability to perform my duties in accordance with the high standards expected of me and every servicemember,’ one of the plaintiffs, Second Lieutenant Nicolas Talbott, said.

An estimated 8,000 trans people served in the US military in 2015, though the figure can vary between around 4,000 and 10,000.

The figure is likely higher, however, as not all trans people may be open about their gender identity. The Pentagon does not require trans troops to self-identify.

Nearly six in 10 Americans favour allowing openly transgender people to serve in the military, a poll this month found, but the support had drooped from 71% in 2019.

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