About 1,000 service members who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria like Thomas are voluntarily leaving the military under President Donald Trump’s policy, the U.S. Defense Department announced this month.

The Trump administration also announced this month that it is preparing to begin the next phase of its ban by “involuntarily separating” transgender service members who have not stepped forward like Thomas. The Pentagon has estimated about 4,000 — or less than 1% of the roughly 2 million people in uniform — have a diagnosis for gender dysphoria.

“I am really glad that I got to serve. I love all the people that I have met,” said Thomas, 25, a seven-year Army veteran who reenlisted for another five years in February. “It is going to be hard to let go, especially not on my own terms.”

A history of controversy

Americans are sharply divided over allowing openly transgender people to serve in the U.S. military. Fifty-eight percent favor it, while 35% oppose it and 7% have no opinion, according to a telephone poll of 1,001 adults Gallup conducted nationwide in late January. Support is higher among Democrats at 84%, compared to Republicans at 23%.

Trump reignited the debate in 2017 during his first presidential administration, when he moved to ban transgender people from the U.S. military.

“Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail,” Trump announced then on Twitter, the social media platform now known as X.

Federal judges blocked Trump’s policy. After he defeated Trump and took office in January 2021, Biden overturned Trump’s ban.

Soon after Trump moved back into the White House this year, he signed an executive order revoking Biden’s policy. Trump’s order says in part: “adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual’s sex conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life.”

Seven transgender service members joined a transgender person who wanted to enlist and the Gender Justice League in suing in federal court, arguing Trump’s latest ban is unconstitutional. In March, a federal district court judge in Tacoma, Washington, blocked Trump’s order. But on May 6, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Trump could proceed with his ban.

On the same day of the high court’s ruling, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth championed the Trump administration’s policies while speaking at an annual conference for Special Operations Forces.

“We are leaving wokeness and weakness behind,” Hegseth said. “No more pronouns. No more climate change obsession. No more emergency vaccine mandates. No more dudes in dresses, we’re done with that [expletive].”

‘We are losing a good one’

The son of a high school band director and a property manager, Thomas was born and raised in Douglas, the Coffee County government seat. While attending elementary school in rural Georgia, he knew he was “different.”

“Being from a small country town, I felt weird,” he said.

As Thomas grew older and traveled outside of rural Georgia, he learned more about people like him. When he reached 17, he decided he wanted to undergo gender transition.

Meanwhile, Thomas was inspired by relatives who served in the military. He joined the Army after he graduated from high school and now serves as a training equipment manager with a detachment of the 73rd Ordnance Battalion.

He has participated in training exercises in Germany and Poland. And he received Army Achievement Medals in 2021 and 2024 for “exceptionally meritorious service” and for “outstanding achievement,” respectively, his service records show.

Staff Sgt. Mariytzah Gillis, who serves in the same Army battalion at Fort Eisenhower with Thomas, has been impressed with his work ethic and resilience. Thomas has performed, Gillis said, above his rank and has taken on extra responsibilities.

“Thomas is an amazing soldier,” Gillis said. “We are losing a good one because people don’t like them? It doesn’t make sense to me. It doesn’t make sense to Thomas. It doesn’t make sense to anybody but Trump.”

Fort Eisenhower and the Defense Department referred questions about Thomas’ case to the U.S. Army, which did not respond to requests for comment.

The Defense Department also said it would not provide information about how many other military service members like Thomas who are voluntarily leaving the military are stationed in each state, including Georgia.

Thomas received his gender dysphoria diagnosis from the military in September 2021 before proceeding with his medical transition the following month.

He decided to voluntarily resign this year, partly because he knew it was possible the Trump administration could access his military medical records and force him out.

“If they were to continue with involuntary separations, you wouldn’t have to do a whole lot of digging to find that. That is definitely the reason why I self-identified,” he said.

“I just don’t want to be forced out under someone else’s terms,” he added. “If it were up to me, I would like to stay in.”

Service members with a gender dysphoria diagnosis who leave voluntarily like Thomas will be honorably discharged and be eligible for separation pay that is twice as high as those who are involuntarily forced out, according to the Defense Department.

Thomas hasn’t decided how he will support himself after he leaves the Army, though he wonders if he could do a similar job as a civilian at Fort Eisenhower.

“I was someone who wanted to continue serving my country for 20 years,” he said. “That was my plan. It has always been my plan to continue my service for as long as possible because I really do enjoy what I do. I always have.”

Thomas emphasized that he rejects the Trump administration’s ban, saying he and other transgender people have served successfully in the military for many years.

“We can perform our duties just like any other soldier,” he said. “We are more than capable. We are more than qualified.”