Trump Signs Executive Orders to Eliminate DEI and Transgender Policies in the Military

President Donald Trump signed five new executive orders on Monday, including banning transgender service members and eliminating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs from the military. The orders, signed late Monday night, directs recently confirmed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to prohibit trans-identified service members from serving or enlisting in the military, citing mental unfitness. 

“The United States military has a clear mission to protect the American people and our homeland as the world’s most lethal and effective fighting force,” reads the order released by the White House. “Success in this existential mission requires a singular focus on developing the requisite warrior ethos, and the pursuit of military excellence cannot be diluted to accommodate political agendas or other ideologies harmful to unit cohesion.”

“Consistent with the military mission and longstanding DoD policy, expressing a false ‘gender identity’ divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service,” it continued. “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.”

“A man’s assertion that he is a woman, and his requirement that others honor this falsehood, is not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member.” 

Per the New York Post, the orders also ban the use of “invented pronouns” in the military and ban service members from using restrooms, changing rooms or bedrooms of the opposite sex. Another order calls for removal of all existing and future DEI programs in the military, an internal review of all “discrimination” in military due to DEI, and prohibit DEI and gender ideologies from being taught in military academies.

The president also signed an executive order that reinstates all military members discharged for refusing to comply with the military’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate, an order to establish an “Iron Dome “ for America, and a proclamation commemorating the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. 

WATCH: Trump Signs Executive Order Banning Transgender Service Members

Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/Anna Moneymaker/Staff

Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for CrosswalkHeadlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.

Originally published January 28, 2025.