Following a victory at the Supreme Court, the U.S. military is moving towards its goal of increasing lethal readiness and removing transgender-identifying personnel from service. On Thursday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a memo to Department of Defense (DOD) officials stipulating that “expressing a false ‘gender identity’ divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for Military Service.” The memo continued, “Service by individuals with a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibiting symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria is not in the best interest of the Military Services and is not clearly consistent with the interests of national security.”

To that end, Hegseth “immediately” reinstated several policies and directives, writing, “Service members who have a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria may elect to separate voluntarily; such Service members may also be eligible for voluntary separation pay.” The Defense secretary gave transgender-identifying individuals in active duty until June 6 to voluntarily resign, and transgender-identifying individuals in reserve until June 7. “On conclusion of the self-identification eligibility window, the Military Departments will initiate involuntary separation processes,” Hegseth ordered.

The memo comes just days after the Supreme Court this week put a hold on a lower court’s injunction which prevented the DOD from removing transgender-identifying individuals from military positions. “Here at the Defense Department, we continue to relentlessly pursue the president’s agenda, especially on readiness,” Hegseth said in a video posted to social media in the wake of the Supreme Court’s order. Referring to President Donald Trump’s executive order on “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness,” which required that transgender-identifying individuals be removed from military positions, the Defense secretary continued, “We implemented that policy. … We’re going to continue to advance that policy here at the Defense Department. So in accordance with the policy now reinstated, servicemembers who have a current diagnosis or history of or exhibit symptoms consistent with gender dysphoria may elect to separate voluntarily.”

However, once the window for voluntary separation closes, Hegseth warned that the DOD will enforce mandatory separations if necessary. In the video, captioned “TRANS is out at the DOD,” he concluded, “This is the president’s agenda, this is what the American people voted for, and we’re going to continue to relentlessly pursue it.”

Hegseth touted the policy at a recent special operations conference in Tampa, Florida, according to the Associated Press. “No more pronouns. No more dudes in dresses. We’re done with that sh**,” he quipped.

According to a New York Times report in February, when the DOD policy was first implemented before being challenged in court, official government figures showed that at least 4,240 armed forces members have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria. Since 2015, the government has also spent $52 million on gender transition procedures — including psychology sessions, hormone drugs, and gender transition surgeries — for military servicemembers. The DOD has been using the gender dysphoria diagnosis, which is reflected in medical records, as a means of identifying servicemembers who identify as transgender.

At least 1,000 troops who identify as transgender have already agreed to voluntarily separate from the military, almost all of them prior to the end of March, when the DOD’s policy was put on hold by court order. In his Thursday memo, Hegseth ordered, “Military Departments will immediately begin processing for separation Service members who previously self-identified for voluntary separation prior to March 26, 2025.” He warned, “On conclusion of the self-identification eligibility window, the Military Departments will initiate involuntary separation processes…”