Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a memo on Monday blocking people with gender dysphoria from joining the military and ending gender transition surgery for service members.

Hegseth said, effective immediately, all new accessions for people with a history of gender dysphoria are paused, and all unscheduled, scheduled, or planned medical procedures associated with affirming or facilitating a gender transition for service members are paused.

“The lethality, readiness, and warfighting capability of our Force depends on Service members meeting those standard,” Hegseth wrote. “The department must ensure it is building ‘One Force’ without subgroups defined by anything other than ability or mission adherence. Efforts to split our troops along lines of identity weaken our Force and make us vulnerable. Such efforts must not be tolerated or accommodated.”

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