Fetterman urges Trump to rescind ban on transgender troops

Sen. John Fetterman (Pa.), the maverick Democrat who has praised President Trump at times, on Thursday condemned the Trump administration’s decision to bar transgender people from serving in the U.S. military and called for a reversal of the policy.

“I am unapologetically pro-military — I believe in a strong, lethal military. But I am also unapologetically pro the LGBTQ community,” Fetterman said in a video posted to the social platform X.

“I am calling on President Trump to rescind this executive order — to allow and honor the inherent dignity of our service members regardless of what their race is, what their gender is, who they love or how they identify,” he said.

“A military that respects and supports all of its members is fully capable of being lethal and winning wars,” he added.

Fetterman made his comments after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday issued a memo enforcing a ban on transgender people from enlisting in the military and eliminating service members’ access to gender-affirming medical care.

Hegseth issued the memo after Trump signed an executive order last month directing the Defense Department to exclude people who identify with a gender different from their biological sex from military service.