Marines Close Loophole Allowing Transgender Troops To Remain In The Service

The Marine Corps has closed a loophole that had allowed transgender service members to extend their enlistments while fighting separation under President Donald Trump’s military ban.

The new policy eliminates temporary service extensions for Marines awaiting decisions on their involuntary separation cases — potentially forcing some out even after military review boards flouted Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s orders by recommending retention, according to Military Times. The move follows reports that Navy and Marine Corps separation boards recommended retaining nine of 12 transgender service members despite the Trump administration’s ban, with final approval still requiring acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao’s authorization.

This new development was announced in an administrative memo acquired by Military Times.

“The authority to grant service extensions to Marines undergoing involuntary administrative separation processing under the purview of reference (a) is rescinded,” the memo reads.

“As a matter of policy, the Marine Corps does not comment on ongoing litigation,” the Marine Corps told the Daily Caller News Foundation when asked for comment.

“Consistent with the military mission and longstanding DoD policy, expressing a false ‘gender identity’ divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service,” reads a 2025 executive order formally separating transgender service members from the military. “Beyond the hormonal and surgical medical interventions involved, adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual’s sex conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life.”

“A man’s assertion that he is a woman, and his requirement that others honor this falsehood, is not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member,” it adds.

Service members who opted for voluntary separation were offered twice the pay. Those who did not opt to leave, faced separation boards. Though receiving hormones, undergoing transgender surgery or identifying by something other than one’s biological sex automatically warrant separation, officers on boards would still recommend retention.

Temporary service extensions would allow transgender members to continue serving while awaiting these boards. The ending of them will result in them being expelled from the military.