President Trump banned transgender people from the military during his first term.

But at the time, service members could continue with their service if they had received an official diagnosis of gender dysphoria.

Citing military excellence and readiness, the second Trump administration is now forcibly removing nearly all remaining openly transgender troops – identifying them by their previous diagnoses of gender dysphoria.

In their parting messages, they and their allies say it’s only hurting, not helping military readiness.

NPR’s Lauren Hodges reports.

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Email us at [email protected].This episode was produced by Lauren Hodges and Mia Venkat, with audio engineering by Neisha Heinis. It was edited by Andrew Sussman and Patrick Jarenwattananon. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.

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