Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators John Fetterman (D-PA) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), along with 12 of their fellow Senate Democratic colleagues, sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth condemning President Trump’s transgender military service ban, which is a blatant violation of servicemembers’ civil rights and threat to our national security. The lawmakers asked Secretary Hegseth if the Administration was complying with nationwide injunctions that halted the ban and demanded that the Administration disclose whether any transgender servicemembers have been wrongfully dismissed under the executive order despite the courts’ orders.
“This policy insults the service of brave Americans who believe that all people, regardless of differences, are equal and have a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” wrote the lawmakers in a letter to Secretary Hegseth. “As the Joint Force faces a recruiting crisis amid a staggering attrition rate for new troops (nearly a quarter of Army recruits have failed to complete their initial contracts since 2022), our Nation cannot afford to expel several thousand troops serving honorably on a baseless, hateful whim.”
The lawmakers derided Trump’s trans military service ban for not only being discriminatory and based on false pretenses, but also for hurting the United States’ military readiness and exacerbating the ongoing military recruiting crisis in service of continuing hateful attacks against transgender Americans.
“The United States military became the greatest fighting force in the world by pioneering the integration of diverse groups,” the lawmakers continued. “We have triumphed over our enemies because military effectiveness and lethality are strengthened by a broad range of skills, experiences and backgrounds. Naysayers who have derided the U.S. military as lacking the discipline, intelligence and ability to achieve unit cohesion among Americans of different classes, races, ethnicities, religions and yes, genders, have been proven wrong again and again.”
In addition to Senators Fetterman and Duckworth, the letter is co-signed by U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Ron Wyden (D-WA).
The full text of the letter is available here.
Senator Fetterman has been an outspoken critic of the Trump Administration’s ban on transgender individuals serving in the military. When the ban was announced in February, he posted a video on X, calling on the Administration to immediately reverse course.
“I am unapologetically pro-military—I believe in a strong, lethal military. But I am also unapologetically pro the LGBTQ community,” said Senator Fetterman on X. “I am calling on President Trump to rescind this executive order—to allow and honor the inherent dignity of our servicemembers regardless of what their race is, what their gender is, who they love, or how they identify. A military that respects and supports all of its members is fully capable of being lethal and winning wars.”
