The Department of the Air Force has issued new guidance laying out the steps it will take to involuntarily separate transgender Airmen and Guardians from military service.
transgender
Earlier this summer, the Air Force offered transgender Airmen and Guardians with 15 to 18 years of service the chance to retire before the 20-year mark. Then it turned all of them down.
Active-duty transgender troops have until June 6 to self-identify and begin the voluntary separation process or wait and risk possible involuntary separation later—even as questions linger over how that decision might affect their security clearances for future employment.
The Supreme Court's May 6 decision to grant the Trump administration's request to block a lower court's injunction means the Defense Department can resume separating transgender service members under a directive issued in February.
Hundreds, or possibly thousands, of transgender service members have returned to work after two judges ordered preliminary injunctions blocking Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s ban of transgender service members and recruits. But their long-term future remains uncertain.