The Trump administration has found a new way to harass transgender military members.
A newly surfaced Defense Department memo, which 404 Media unearthed via Freedom of Information Act request, revealed that taxpayer dollars are being used to monitor military bathrooms out of fear that transgender people are using the facilities.
The memo details the department’s efforts to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order, “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” which he signed on Day 1 of his second term.
Related | How the military is dealing with Hegseth’s order to remove transgender troops
The department assured the Office of Personnel Management that it’s working to “monitor intimate spaces” to comply with the order and that it “updated signage to reflect biological sex, removing any references to gender identity.”
The GOP has engaged in anti-transgender bigotry under the guise of protecting women, but the disclosure of the memo and the Pentagon’s bathroom monitoring operations come as congressional Republicans and Trump are stonewalling on disclosures about Jeffrey Epstein, an alleged sex trafficker who abused underage women.
The most visible manifestation of the right’s transphobia has been the decision to ban transgender people from serving in the military. Under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Trump’s orders, the military is now working to withdraw transgender troops, even after being deployed.
Another notable manifestation was House Speaker Mike Johnson’s November decision to segregate Capitol Hill bathrooms by “biological sex,” a blatant attack on Democratic Rep. Sarah McBride of Delaware, who is the first openly trans person to serve in Congress.
“I just don’t understand why bathrooms are top of mind for her, why [GOP Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina] is thinking about where future members are going to piss and shit,” Democratic Rep. Maxwell Frost of Florida said at the time.
Johnson’s decision led to an incident in January where GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado joined Mace in investigating a purported sighting of “a guy” in the Capitol Hill women’s bathroom. It was a false alarm, leading to mockery across the country.
Republicans are obsessed with bathroom behavior, which Democrats rightfully labeled “weird” during the 2024 election. But in Trump’s America, taxpayers are now financing this bizarre and bigoted bathroom monitoring.