Transgender sailors and Marines who want to voluntarily separate before the military starts kicking them out have until March 28 to come forward, according to a Navy policy announced Thursday evening.
The policy, which was released to the fleet as a NAVADMIN after being filed in court by administration officials defending the ban against a lawsuit, is in line with the Defense Department-wide policy released last month that said service members who choose to separate would be eligible for separation pay that is twice as much as they would receive if they later get kicked out.
"An individual's sex is immutable, unchanging during a person's life," the Navy policy says. "After 28 March 2025, the [Department of the Navy] will initiate involuntary administrative separation for these personnel and others who are disqualified for military service."
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Since the Pentagon unveiled its policy, each of the military departments has been releasing its own memo to fill in details of how it will carry out the ban and the offer of voluntary separation, though they have all been largely similar to one another, including using the exact same language in some cases.
The Army policy, which was released in court late last week, gives transgender soldiers until March 26 to decide to voluntarily separate. The deadline to choose voluntary separation in the Air Force policy, filed in a court earlier this month, is also March 26.
Even as the services are rolling out their policies, a federal court appears poised to block the transgender service ban from taking effect.
At least two lawsuits have been filed against it, and a federal judge in Washington, D.C., hearing arguments in one of the lawsuits has appeared deeply skeptical of the Trump administration's defenses. That judge said at a hearing Wednesday that she expects to issue a ruling by next week on whether to block the ban from taking effect while the lawsuit works its way through the legal system.
The Pentagon is moving to ban transgender people from serving in the military to fulfill an executive order President Donald Trump signed in January that declared that being transgender is "not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member."
Officials in the Pentagon have not offered any details or examples to substantiate that claim.
The policy the Pentagon put out to implement Trump's order says troops with a history of gender dysphoria, who "exhibit symptoms" of gender dysphoria, or who have transitioned to their gender identity are disqualified from service.
Gender dysphoria is the medical term for the distress caused by someone's gender identity not matching their sex assigned at birth.
The policy also outlines some exemptions, but advocates say the criteria for a waiver are impossible for any transgender service member to meet.
In order to qualify for a waiver, a transgender service member would have to be stable in their birth sex for 36 months, never have transitioned to their gender identity, and be willing to serve in their birth sex. The military service must also prove there is a "compelling government interest in retaining the service member," which subsequent guidance clarified to mean the service member has some sort of special skill or training.
However, the offer for sailors and Marines who self-identify themselves for discharge, though driven by Pentagon policy, is generous and unique for the Department of the Navy, which includes the Marine Corps.
Under the policy released Thursday, those who request voluntary separation by March 28 will receive double the normal involuntary separation pay.
Normally, involuntary separation pay is 10% of a service member's annual base pay multiplied by their years of service.
Some of the publicly serving transgender service members -- both officer and enlisted -- have served for more than a decade, so these payments can easily be more than $100,000 even before being doubled.
They will also have any remaining service obligation waived and will not have to repay any bonuses tied to their service obligation they received before Feb. 26.
Some of those bonuses can easily reach into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The policy also stipulates that the discharge characterization will be honorable "except where the member's record otherwise warrants a different characterization," and those with more than 18 years of service but less than 20 years may be eligible for early retirement.
Those with less than six years or more than 20 years of service will not be eligible for the voluntary separation pay, the Navy policy says.
Navy Cmdr. Emily Shilling, a decorated jet pilot with 60 combat missions, is one of the longest serving publicly out transgender service members. She has served 19 years and eight months in uniform.
Within the Navy's new policy is a quiet admission that officials do not know just how many sailors or Marines the ban will be affecting, and the policy formally forbids Navy personnel from taking steps to "identify service members … [through] the use of medical records, periodic health assessments, ad hoc physical assessments, or any other diagnostic mechanism, unless otherwise directed" by someone at the Pentagon's office of personnel and readiness.
The Department of Defense does not track the number of transgender troops. In January, officials in the Pentagon said that they were aware of 4,240 service members across all services who had been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, but it is possible that others have not secured a formal diagnosis through the military or are turning to civilian doctors for care or medication, thus keeping their status hidden from commanders.
The Navy's policy, like the Army's, is less clear on what happens to anyone who does not volunteer to self-identify and separate before the deadline.
The memo says that they will be subject to involuntary separation, as well losing the ability to collect the pay and keep their bonuses, but it also notes that the "procedures for
involuntary separation will be promulgated via future guidance."
After service members request voluntary separation, they will be put into an administrative absence status until they are separated, according to the policy.
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