トランスジェンダーの兵士、例外を除き軍から排除へ 米国防総省

【ワシントンＡＦＰ＝時事】米政府は、トランスジェンダーの兵士について、個別に免除が認められる場合を除き、３０日以内に軍から排除する方針を示していることを、国防総省が２６日付の文書で公表した。（写真は米国防総省。資料写真）
　ドナルド・トランプ大統領は１月下旬、トランスジェンダーの人々を軍から排除する大統領令に署名した。この大統領令に対しては異議申し立てが行われており、今回の公表はそれを受けて行われた。
　国防総省の文書には、「現在または過去に性別違和の診断を受けた、または性別違和の症状を示している兵士は、軍務から外れる手続きを行う」と記されている。
　一方で、「政府に必要不可欠な利益をもたらし、（軍の）戦闘能力を直接支える兵士については、個別に免除を検討する」とも記されている。
　兵士がこの免除を認められるには、性別移行を一度も試みたことがなく、さらに「社会的、職業的、またはその他の重要な領域において臨床的に著しい苦痛や機能障害がない状態で、３年間連続して安定している」ことを証明しなければならないとしている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2025/02/27-18:30）

The United States will remove transgender troops from the military unless they obtain a waiver on a case-by-case basis, the Pentagon said in a Wednesday memo.
The memo became public as part of a court filing in a case challenging President Donald Trump's late January executive order that was aimed at barring military service by transgender personnel.
Service members who have a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria will be processed for separation from military service, the memo said.
These troops may be considered for a waiver on a case-by-case basis, provided there is a compelling government interest in retaining the service member that directly supports warfighting capabilities, it said.
To obtain such a waiver, troops must show that they have never attempted to transition, as well as demonstrate 36 consecutive months of stability in the service member's sex without clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.
Another Pentagon memo issued earlier this month barred transgender people from joining the military and halted gender transition treatment for others who are already in uniform.
The latest memo also states that applicants for military service... who have a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria are disqualified for military service, as are those with a history of cross-sex hormone therapy or sex reassignment or genital reconstruction surgery as treatment for gender dysphoria.
- Shifting US policies -
Disqualified applicants can also obtain a waiver if there is a compelling government interest in them joining the military and they are willing and able to adhere to all applicable standards, including the standards associated with the applicant's sex.
Transgender Americans have faced a roller coaster of changing policies on military service in recent years, with Democratic administrations seeking to permit them to serve openly, while Trump has repeatedly sought to keep them out of the ranks.
The US military lifted a ban on transgender troops in 2016, during Democrat Barack Obama's second term as president.
Under that policy, trans troops already serving were permitted to do so openly, and transgender recruits were set to start being accepted by July 1, 2017.
But the first Trump administration postponed that date to 2018 before deciding to reverse the policy entirely.
Trump's controversial restrictions on transgender military service -- which underwent changes in response to various court challenges -- eventually came into force in April 2019 following a protracted legal battle that went all the way to the nation's top court.
Trump's Democratic successor Joe Biden moved to reverse the restrictions just days after he took office in 2021, saying all Americans qualified to serve should be able to do so.
After returning to office in January, Trump issued an executive order executive order that again took aim at transgender troops, saying: Expressing a false 'gender identity' divergent from an individual's sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service.
Transgender issues have roiled US politics in recent years, as states controlled by Democrats and Republicans have moved in opposite directions on policies ranging from medical treatment to what books on the topic are allowed in public or school libraries.