Trump spox says issue of trans in military not yet decided

The statement from Trump’s spokesperson and incoming White House press secretary said that “unnamed sources are speculating and have no idea what they are actually talking about. No policy should ever be deemed official unless it comes directly from President Trump or his authorized spokespeople,” according to Fox News.

Nonprofit organization SPARTA Pride told Military.com earlier this week that there are 15,000 trans personnel stationed around the world. Trump said during his first time in office that the US would no longer allow trans people to serve “in any capacity,” reversing the Obama administration’s policy allowing trans individuals to serve openly in the military and to receive taxpayer-funded gender-affirming treatments while serving.

Trump cited "tremendous medical costs and disruption" when announcing the change in a July 2017 post to X (then Twitter). After legal challenges, a revised policy was implemented in 2018 that prohibited individuals diagnosed with gender dysphoria from serving unless they had not undergone a sex change and were “stable in their biological sex.”

The Supreme Court allowed the ban to stand in January 2019. The Biden administration would later reverse the restriction.

Trump has been a vocal advocate for fairness in women’s sports, campaigning on the ban of biological men in women’s sports. Ads run by the Trump camp focused on opponent Kamala Harris’ track record of allowing sex change procedures for incarcerated people in California. "Kamala is for they/them, President Trump is for you," the narrator of Trump's campaign ad said.