Navy Details New Separation Policy for Sailors with Gender Dysphoria
Heather Mongilio
May 27, 2025 5:25 PM - Updated: May 28, 2025 11:09 AM
This story has been updated to clarify when sailors must choose to leave service.
Active-duty sailors diagnosed or displaying symptoms of gender dysphoria must choose to leave the service by June 6 or they will be involuntarily separated, according to a policy released last week from the Navy.
Under the new rules, those who voluntarily separate from the service may receive voluntary separation pay at a rate twice the amount received if they were to leave involuntarily and will likely not have to pay back bonuses or incentive pay, as long as the sailor has served at least six years.
Active duty sailors have until June 6 to put in for the voluntary separation for an honorable discharge, while reservists have until July 7, according to the NAVADMIN.
Those who are separated involuntarily will not receive additional pay and will likely have to pay back bonus or incentive pay.
In addition to requiring all service members with gender dysphoria to leave, no people with that diagnosis or symptoms of it can enlist in the services. This includes those who have enlisted but are in the delayed entry pool, where they have not yet been sent to boot camp.
“A history of cross-sex hormone therapy or sex reassignment or genital reconstruction surgery as treatment for gender dysphoria or in pursuit of a sex transition is disqualifying for applicants for military [service], and incompatible with military [service] for military personnel,” reads the NAVADMIN.
Those who are eligible for retirement, including early retirement, will go through that process instead of separating.
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