The Pentagon's new policy restricting transgender people from openly serving in the military goes into effect on Friday.
The policy states that those who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria and have received medical treatment cannot join the military, while those who have been diagnosed but haven't received treatment can do so.
Additionally, service members diagnosed with gender dysphoria can't receive transition surgeries unless they are currently receiving treatment. Current transgender service members can continue to serve openly, but they'll need to have received a gender dysphoria diagnosis by Friday. Absent that diagnosis, they would need to serve under the gender assigned to them at birth or leave the military.
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The Pentagon has said the policy is not a ban. President Trump first touted the idea of preventing all transgender people from serving in the military "in any capacity" in a 2017 tweet, but the administration scaled the policy back after facing legal challenges.
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