Latest news with #genderdysphoria
CBS News
4 hours ago
- General
- CBS News
Army document outlines plans for expelling transgender troops from military
Washington — Transgender military service members must come forward and voluntarily leave active-duty service next week, by June 6, according to Defense Department guidance issued by Secretary Pete Hegseth. After that, the military is expected to begin involuntary separations for active-duty trans service members who remain. One of the service branches, the Army, on Wednesday issued more guidance about how it will identify and interact with soldiers with gender dysphoria, according to documents obtained by CBS News. Although Hegseth had made formal assurances in a February memo that transgender service members would be treated with dignity, the Army's new internal directives to units instruct personnel to intentionally address transgender troops — even superior officers — in accordance with an individual's medical assignment at birth rather than by their preferred pronoun. When the military starts forcing out transgender troops through involuntary separations, soldiers will identify fellow service members suspected of having gender dysphoria following a list of criteria outlined in the guidance. The markers include past requests for grooming standard exemptions tied to medical assignment at birth or the initiation of a medical treatment plan tied to gender dysphoria. "Overt conduct," either on social media or in person, of gender identity differing from assigned sex at birth and even a commander's "private conversation" where a soldier disclosed gender dysphoria are considered relevant under the guidance. The commander is expected to initiate a medical record review if aware of any of the criteria above, and service members will also be asked during routine medical check-ups about their identity as a result of the Defense Department's new policy. In a February memo filed with the U.S. District Court in Washington, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said transgender troops will be "treated with dignity and respect." But in public, the Army veteran and former Fox News host has instead railed against transgender service members, saying at a Special Operations Forces military conference in Florida in May, "No more dudes in dresses, we're done with that s***." The Army guidance also instructs soldiers to use the "utmost professionalism and treating all individuals with dignity and respect," but the policies run counter to transgender social norms, like addressing transgender troops by the pronouns they prefer. Army Maj. Kara Corcoran, a transgender infantry officer and Afghanistan veteran with 17 years of military service, now faces separation from the armed forces. She defended the service of transgender troops when contacted Friday by CBS News. "By implementing this guidance…you're making it worse than the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy, because you're overtly hunting down and trying to identify transgender service members or anybody that…exhibits symptoms of gender dysphoria," Corcoran said. She added: "Transgender service members have served openly since 2016 without adverse impacts on readiness or unit cohesion. Thousands of transgender troops are combat-tested, having deployed to war zones and executed missions with distinction." U.S. Army Maj. Karra Corcoran is seen patrolling Afghanistan in 2010. Karra Corcoran The Defense Department defines gender dysphoria as a "marked incongruence between an individual's experienced or expressed gender and their assigned gender, lasting at least six months, as manifested by conditions causing clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning." The Army guidance issued to units on Wednesday begins with the suggestion that identifying with a gender different from one's sex assigned at birth is at odds with the values of truthfulness and discipline expected of service members — even beyond the uniform they wear. The guidance echoes the statements in President Trump's January executive order stating the values of transgender service members represent a departure from the "humility and selflessness required" of military members and are "inconsistent with" the "cohesion" the armed forces demand. Contacted by CBS News on Thursday, an Army spokesperson at the Pentagon said that since May 8, additional guidance has been issued as the service continues to voluntarily separate service members. When asked about soldiers being directed to misgender transgender soldiers, the Army spokesman, who did not want to be identified while speaking on behalf of the service, repeated what was in the guidance obtained by CBS News: "Pronoun usage when referring to Soldiers must reflect their biological sex. In keeping with good order and discipline, salutations (e.g., addressing a senior officer as "sir" or "ma'am") must also reflect an individual's biological sex." The Army spokesman added, "The Army recognizes the selfless service of all who have volunteered to serve our great nation. We are in the process of ensuring the Army is aligned with recent policy changes to Soldier requirements. Regardless of potential outcomes, every Soldier will be treated with dignity and respect." Commanders have also been instructed to revise official records to reflect service members' sex at birth, rather than their gender identity. In the interim, transgender troops are expected to comply with policies aligned with biological sex—ranging from physical fitness standards to uniform requirements, sleeping quarters and access to restrooms and showers. Under current policy, decisions to separate soldiers outside standard regulatory grounds rest solely with the secretary of the Army — a power typically reserved for exceptional circumstances. Enlisted transgender soldiers will be separated under the Secretarial Plenary Authority, a mechanism the Army itself acknowledges is "exercised sparingly." Historically, this little-used authority has surfaced during politically fraught chapters of military policy — from discharges over COVID-19 mandate refusals to the now-defunct "Don't ask, Don't Tell" era. While both enlisted and officer transgender troops will receive an honorable discharge unless their service warrants a lower characterization, they will also receive an RE-3 enlistment code, meaning they are not eligible to rejoin the Army or any other U.S. military service without a waiver. Army military officers will be separated on the basis that "their continued service is not clearly consistent with the interests of national security." CBS News has not yet seen directives from the other service branches and whether they mirror the Army's policies. Under the Army guidance obtained by CBS News, transgender officers will receive what's known as a "Code JDK" upon separation. The JDK code is for the Military Personnel Security Program, and is typically applied to discharge paperwork where a service member is being separated from the U.S. military for a security reason. Cody Harnish, a former Army Judge Advocate General officer and now a private defense attorney for U.S. service members, told CBS News by phone on Thursday that a JDK separation code is a red flag and signals to other government agencies that the service members were separated for "national security interests." "This can be a serious roadblock to keeping or transferring a security clearance to future employment requiring a clearance," said Harnish. He said under President Trump's executive order revoking gender identity discrimination protections, if a transgender veteran's separation from the military bears this code and is vetted for a job requiring a security clearance, "being transgender can again be viewed as a security concern." Harnish said that having the JDK separation code on their record may be interpreted by future employers "as evidence of heightened risk, severely complicating or blocking clearance maintenance or transfer after military service." But amid the crackdown and political rhetoric surrounding the service of transgender service members, Maj. Corcoran offered a pointed reflection on patriotism, duty, and shared sacrifice. "It's simple, we transgender service members believe in the same American values you do—liberty and freedom," said Corcoran. "The nation's strength comes together for a common purpose in the face of the ever-increasing hostile global environment. It is in the blood of the warrior spirit that we all stand ready to fight, and if need be, die in the defense of the cherished institutions of America. Let us embody this by serving."
CNN
3 days ago
- General
- CNN
HHS letter tells health care providers to disregard treatment protocols for trans people, adhere to report by unnamed authors
The US Department of Health and Human Services said Wednesday that Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sent a letter urging health care providers and medical boards to update treatment protocols for youth with gender dysphoria based on a controversial HHS review of scientific literature that was released earlier this month. The HHS report, released May 1, says it is 'not a clinical practice guideline,' but Kennedy's letter warns providers against relying on science-based professional guidelines and urges them to use the government document to inform their practice instead. The letter also said that HHS is committed to protecting whistleblowers and may soon create new policies and oversight actions to 'hold providers that harm children accountable.' The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services - a subagency of HHS - also announced Wednesday that it was launching an oversight initiative into hospitals that performed 'experimental sex trait modification procedures' on children. Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said CMS 'will not turn a blind eye to procedures that lack a solid foundation of evidence and may result in lifelong harm.' Oz added that he was concerned about the 'profits related to these harmful procedures.' Research shows that gender-affirming surgery is rarely performed on transgender or gender-diverse children or teens in the US, and professional medical organizations do not recommend surgery for children as part of gender-affirming care. Kennedy's letter, which HHS shared Wednesday on social media, warns providers to avoid relying on guidelines from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health on care for transgender and gender-diverse people. 'These and other guidelines based on the so-called 'gender-affirming' model of care should not be relied upon to harm children any further,' the letter says. Kennedy urges providers to read HHS's review of the scientific literature on care for trans individuals and 'update your treatment protocols and training to ensure that our nation's children are protected from harm.' In the US, care for gender dysphoria – an official diagnosis of a condition in which an individual feels significant distress because of a mismatch between the sex they were assigned at birth and their sense of their gender – is tailored to an individual's needs and is typically offered through a multidisciplinary team of doctors. Not everyone who identifies as transgender or gender-diverse has this diagnosis. Gender-affirming care is guided by several professional association guidelines, based on decades of research that shows that it is safe and that it can have a positive impact on a person's life and mental health. Major medical associations – including the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the Endocrine Society, the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry – have affirmed the practice of gender-affirming care and agree that it's clinically appropriate and can provide lifesaving treatment for children and adults. The 400-page review that Kennedy's letter referenced was initiated by an executive order from President Donald Trump that called gender-affirming care 'chemical and surgical mutilation' and stated that the federal government would not 'fund, sponsor, promote, assist or support' any kind of gender-affirming care for people under the age of 19. When the report was released, HHS refused to identify who wrote it. HHS said parts of it were peer-reviewed, but it would not disclose which parts or identify who reviewed it. The report spelled out that 'it is not a clinical practice guideline, and it does not issue legislative or policy recommendations.' Rather, it included sections on evidence, ethical considerations, psychotherapy and 'clinical realities' focused on treatment of gender dysphoria in young people. The review did not examine the treatment of adults. The report said that the science used to inform the practice of gender-affirming care was weak and that the practice was harmful. It also sharply criticized US medical associations for what it said was suppression of dissent among members on the issue. The Endocrine Society, a professional group whose guidelines are also mentioned in Kennedy's new letter, said in an email Wednesday that its guideline development process 'adheres to the highest standards of trustworthiness and transparence.' 'The widely accepted view of the professional medical community is that medical treatment is appropriate for transgender and gender-diverse teenagers who experience persistent feelings of gender dysphoria. Medical studies show that access to this care improves the well-being of transgender and nonbinary people,' the group said. The American Academy of Pediatrics said when the HHS report was issued that it was 'deeply alarmed' and that the report relied on 'select perspectives and a narrow set of data,' the group's president, Dr. Susan Kressly, said at the time. 'This report misrepresents the current medical consensus and fails to reflect the realities of pediatric care,' Kressly said in a statement. Gender-affirming care in the US typically starts with a conversation between the individual and a clinician. If the patient is a child, the conversation will involve the family or caregiver when possible. Once the clinician understands what the individual needs, they will design a plan with a team of providers. The practice can include mental health care, support groups and even legal help. When a person is past the start of puberty, their care may include hormones, but not everyone chooses to use them. When a person is an adult, a patient may also seek out surgery to better align their body with their gender. A 2024 study of medical insurance claims in the US from 2019, the latest year available, found that there were no gender-affirming surgeries performed on transgender youth 12 and younger. For older teens and adults, the rates of gender-affirming surgery with a trans or gender diverse-related diagnosis were 2.1 per 100,000 and 5.3 per 100,000, respectively, the study said. Transgender people have been a major focus of the second Trump administration. Soon after his inauguration, Trump signed executive orders that denied the existence of transgender people and instructed government agencies to acknowledge a strict gender binary and withdraw any support for people who identified otherwise. The administration has cut hundreds of millions of dollars in funding used to study trans issues and removed information about transgender people from government websites. Trump has ordered trans troops out of the military, and on Tuesday, he threatened to withhold federal funding from California over a transgender athlete's participation in an upcoming sporting event. Earlier this year, the administration moved to strip funding from Maine, to include funding that fed children and disabled adults, because the state allows trans students to compete in athletics. Gender-affirming care for youth has also been a growing target for state governments. As of March, 27 states have enacted restrictions on such care, meaning about 40% of trans youth live in a state with limited gender-affirming health care options, according to KFF, a health policy organization.
CNN
3 days ago
- General
- CNN
HHS letter tells health care providers to disregard treatment protocols for trans people, adhere to report by unnamed authors
LGBTQ issues Federal agenciesFacebookTweetLink Follow The US Department of Health and Human Services said Wednesday that Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sent a letter urging health care providers and medical boards to update treatment protocols for youth with gender dysphoria based on a controversial HHS review of scientific literature that was released earlier this month. The HHS report, released May 1, says it is 'not a clinical practice guideline,' but Kennedy's letter warns providers against relying on science-based professional guidelines and urges them to use the government document to inform their practice instead. The letter also said that HHS is committed to protecting whistleblowers and may soon create new policies and oversight actions to 'hold providers that harm children accountable.' The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services - a subagency of HHS - also announced Wednesday that it was launching an oversight initiative into hospitals that performed 'experimental sex trait modification procedures' on children. Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said CMS 'will not turn a blind eye to procedures that lack a solid foundation of evidence and may result in lifelong harm.' Oz added that he was concerned about the 'profits related to these harmful procedures.' Research shows that gender-affirming surgery is rarely performed on transgender or gender-diverse children or teens in the US, and professional medical organizations do not recommend surgery for children as part of gender-affirming care. Kennedy's letter, which HHS shared Wednesday on social media, warns providers to avoid relying on guidelines from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health on care for transgender and gender-diverse people. 'These and other guidelines based on the so-called 'gender-affirming' model of care should not be relied upon to harm children any further,' the letter says. Kennedy urges providers to read HHS's review of the scientific literature on care for trans individuals and 'update your treatment protocols and training to ensure that our nation's children are protected from harm.' In the US, care for gender dysphoria – an official diagnosis of a condition in which an individual feels significant distress because of a mismatch between the sex they were assigned at birth and their sense of their gender – is tailored to an individual's needs and is typically offered through a multidisciplinary team of doctors. Not everyone who identifies as transgender or gender-diverse has this diagnosis. Gender-affirming care is guided by several professional association guidelines, based on decades of research that shows that it is safe and that it can have a positive impact on a person's life and mental health. Major medical associations – including the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the Endocrine Society, the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry – have affirmed the practice of gender-affirming care and agree that it's clinically appropriate and can provide lifesaving treatment for children and adults. The 400-page review that Kennedy's letter referenced was initiated by an executive order from President Donald Trump that called gender-affirming care 'chemical and surgical mutilation' and stated that the federal government would not 'fund, sponsor, promote, assist or support' any kind of gender-affirming care for people under the age of 19. When the report was released, HHS refused to identify who wrote it. HHS said parts of it were peer-reviewed, but it would not disclose which parts or identify who reviewed it. The report spelled out that 'it is not a clinical practice guideline, and it does not issue legislative or policy recommendations.' Rather, it included sections on evidence, ethical considerations, psychotherapy and 'clinical realities' focused on treatment of gender dysphoria in young people. The review did not examine the treatment of adults. The report said that the science used to inform the practice of gender-affirming care was weak and that the practice was harmful. It also sharply criticized US medical associations for what it said was suppression of dissent among members on the issue. The Endocrine Society, a professional group whose guidelines are also mentioned in Kennedy's new letter, said in an email Wednesday that its guideline development process 'adheres to the highest standards of trustworthiness and transparence.' 'The widely accepted view of the professional medical community is that medical treatment is appropriate for transgender and gender-diverse teenagers who experience persistent feelings of gender dysphoria. Medical studies show that access to this care improves the well-being of transgender and nonbinary people,' the group said. The American Academy of Pediatrics said when the HHS report was issued that it was 'deeply alarmed' and that the report relied on 'select perspectives and a narrow set of data,' the group's president, Dr. Susan Kressly, said at the time. 'This report misrepresents the current medical consensus and fails to reflect the realities of pediatric care,' Kressly said in a statement. Gender-affirming care in the US typically starts with a conversation between the individual and a clinician. If the patient is a child, the conversation will involve the family or caregiver when possible. Once the clinician understands what the individual needs, they will design a plan with a team of providers. The practice can include mental health care, support groups and even legal help. When a person is past the start of puberty, their care may include hormones, but not everyone chooses to use them. When a person is an adult, a patient may also seek out surgery to better align their body with their gender. A 2024 study of medical insurance claims in the US from 2019, the latest year available, found that there were no gender-affirming surgeries performed on transgender youth 12 and younger. For older teens and adults, the rates of gender-affirming surgery with a trans or gender diverse-related diagnosis were 2.1 per 100,000 and 5.3 per 100,000, respectively, the study said. Transgender people have been a major focus of the second Trump administration. Soon after his inauguration, Trump signed executive orders that denied the existence of transgender people and instructed government agencies to acknowledge a strict gender binary and withdraw any support for people who identified otherwise. The administration has cut hundreds of millions of dollars in funding used to study trans issues and removed information about transgender people from government websites. Trump has ordered trans troops out of the military, and on Tuesday, he threatened to withhold federal funding from California over a transgender athlete's participation in an upcoming sporting event. Earlier this year, the administration moved to strip funding from Maine, to include funding that fed children and disabled adults, because the state allows trans students to compete in athletics. Gender-affirming care for youth has also been a growing target for state governments. As of March, 27 states have enacted restrictions on such care, meaning about 40% of trans youth live in a state with limited gender-affirming health care options, according to KFF, a health policy organization.
Irish Times
5 days ago
- Health
- Irish Times
High Court grants leave for doctors to bring action over State's transgender care policy
The High Court has permitted two medical practitioners to bring a challenge against the Health and Information Quality Authority's (Hiqa's) alleged failure to review the HSE 's care and management of services for gender 'nonconforming' children. Prof Donal O'Shea, a consultant endocrinologist at the National Gender Service (NGS) , and psychiatrist Dr Paul Moran, a consultant psychiatrist at the NGS, have brought the judicial review proceedings. On Monday, Ms Justice Mary Rose Gearty granted permission to Joe Jeffers SC and Brendan Hennessy BL, for the two doctors, to have a hearing of the case. Prof O'Shea and Dr Moran have challenged the HSE's referral of young people for assessment abroad, saying it poses a possible risk to children. READ MORE Ms Justice Gearty said she acknowledged that the case could be seen as one having 'divisive' elements. [ Affirming hormone treatment poses 'greater risk than benefit' for increasing numbers, says gender service consultant Opens in new window ] Prof O'Shea and Dr Moran have previously stated that they are not against a 'gender-affirming' model of care. The doctors have submitted that this model of care is typically found overseas, but that they have concerns over any inappropriate and irreversible medical treatment for patients presenting with gender identity issues. A review of this model impacts Ireland with more than 230 children and young people from Ireland experiencing gender dysphoria – where a person feels a mismatch between their biological sex and their gender identity that may cause unease, dissatisfaction, anxiety or depression. The applicants wrote to Hiqa, requesting it to undertake a statutory investigation, pursuant to section 9 of the Health Act, 2007 of the arrangements of the HSE for the management of gender nonconforming children's healthcare. Mr Jeffers has submitted: 'Hiqa was required to consider whether there were reasonable grounds to believe that there may be a serious risk to the health or welfare of the children receiving the relevant services. 'There is no evidence, or no sufficient evidence, in the decision letter whether Hiqa did in fact consider whether there were reasonable grounds to believe that there may be a serious risk to the health or welfare of the children receiving the relevant services.' [ Transgender woman says she was unable to receive 'basic healthcare' at Dublin hospital after gender surgery Opens in new window ] Mr Jeffers has also submitted that Hiqa had a care pathway established by the HSE, whereby Irish children are now being referred to a private clinic in Antwerp, Belgium, by a non-medically trained 'trans-activist'. 'The clinic in question is located in ZNA Hospital, Antwerp and is operated by an endocrinologist by the name of Dr Klink. The complainants allege the clinic had no 'model of care' or discernible operational guidelines, Mr Jeffers has submitted to the court. Mr Jeffers told the court the applicants have concerns about 'proper' care in Antwerp and over alleged lack of 'regulatory oversight' by health authorities in Ireland. Ms Justice Gearty granted permission for leave for review in the case on 'arguable grounds' and adjourned the matter to July.
Fox News
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Army reveals 2-phase plan to remove service members with gender dysphoria
The Army on Wednesday said it is approaching its second phase of separation with service members experiencing gender dysphoria, an initiative that follows the Trump administration's directive of prioritizing military excellence and readiness. A new memo issued by Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll and obtained by Fox News Digital outlines two phases in the separation process, the first of which will be completed at the beginning of June. The first phase, which ends June 6, allows service members who have been diagnosed with or have a history of gender dysphoria to identify themselves and volunteer to separate from the military branch, an Army spokesperson told Fox Digital. Once a service member notifies an immediate commander, that commander will then notify a superior, initiating the separation process. Soldiers who reached a threshold for years of service qualify for voluntary separation pay or double the pay a service member would get by separating from the Army for various reasons, the spokesperson said. However, they will not qualify for separation pay if they have not reached the years of service, if there is pending administrative action against them or if they are facing Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) code infractions. In the case of pending administrative action against them, their discharge may also not be honorable. The Army said those who volunteer for separation, but do not qualify, will still be separated and afforded benefits; they will only forfeit the additional separation pay, according to the spokesperson. After the June 6 deadline for voluntary separation, the Army will enter the involuntary separation phase. In the second phase, "there will be means of identifying those who did not want to self-identify," the spokesperson said. The spokesperson said soldiers' records, prior to the new policy, reflected service members' sex at birth. Once they are identified, a separation process will begin. "Regardless of potential outcome, every service member will be treated with dignity and respect, however this shakes out," the spokesperson said. Driscoll's guidance comes after President Donald Trump issued an executive order Jan. 27, "Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness." Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth heeded Trump's executive order with a memo outlining what the Department of Defense needed to do to comply.
