June 12, 2025

Duckworth, Warren, Democrats Lead Push to Reverse Trump and Hegseth’s Ban on Transgender Servicemembers

 

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – Combat Veteran and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) joined U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren and other Democratic colleagues in introducing legislation to support our military readiness and national security by prohibiting discrimination against transgender servicemembers.

“If you are willing to risk your life for our country and you can do the job, it shouldn’t matter if you are gay, straight, transgender, Black, white or anything else,” said Duckworth. “Every transgender servicemember earned their role through rigorous training and is more qualified to serve in those roles than Pete Hegseth is to be Secretary of Defense. I’m proud to join Senator Warren and my Democratic colleagues in working to reverse the Trump Administration’s offensive transgender military ban, which is disruptive to our military, hurts readiness and not only does nothing to strengthen our national security—it actively makes things worse.”

Banning transgender servicemembers undermines our military’s readiness. The Administration’s actions hurt our national security and dehumanize the thousands of transgender servicemembers who have made meaningful contributions to our Armed Forces. To ensure the United States can continue to benefit from the service of transgender individuals, who have raised their hand to defend and protect their country and meet the same rigorous standards as their peers, the Fit to Serve Act prohibits the Defense Department from: 

  • Banning transgender servicemembers from the military; 
  • Prescribing qualifications for service on the basis of gender identity; 
  • Denying necessary health care for servicemembers on the basis of gender identity; 
  • Forcing a servicemember to serve in their sex assigned at birth; or 
  • Otherwise discriminating against servicemembers on the basis of gender identity.

In addition to Duckworth and Warren, the legislation is cosponsored by U.S. Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Cory Booker (D-NJ), John Fetterman (D-PA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Tina Smith (D-MN) and Ron Wyden (D-OR).

U.S. Representative Adam Smith (D-WA-09) introduced companion legislation in the House, which is cosponsored by U.S. Representatives Gabe Amo (D-RI-01), Becca Balint (D-VT-AL), Joe Courtney (D-CT-02), Angie Craig (D-MN-02), Suzan DelBene (D-WA-01), Maxine Dexter (D-OR-03), Laura Friedman (D-CA-30), Robert Garcia (D-CA-42), Sylvia Garcia (D-TX-29), Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA-06), Sara Jacobs (D-CA-51), Hank Johnson (D-GA-04), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL-08), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC-AL), Chris Pappas (D-NH-01), Delia Ramirez (D-IL-03), Andrea Salinas (D-OR-06), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL-09), Eric Sorensen (D-IL-17), Marilyn Strickland (D-WA-10), Mark Takano (D-CA-41) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI-12).

Duckworth, a member of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), has been leading the opposition in the Senate against Donald Trump’s un-American transgender military service ban. In April, Duckworth led over a dozen of her colleagues in pushing back against the ban for being a blatant violation of our brave servicemembers’ civil rights and weakening our national security. Secretary Hegseth responded to Duckworth’s letter—but he did not answer many of the questions that were asked about the short- and long-term impacts of the ban on servicemembers, readiness and national security as well as taxpayer cost and more. In response, last week Duckworth led 22 of her colleagues in urging Hegseth to not implement the ban and in demanding answers from the Secretary—including what specific data is being used to back up their misguided claim that transgender servicemembers are not in the “interests of national security” and how much it will cost taxpayers to train the replacements of perfectly capable transgender servicemembers that they are forcing out of our military.

-30-