Internal Defense Health Agency and Air Force records obtained through FOIA litigation show the number of military-connected patients diagnosed with gender dysphoria rose from 2,221 in 2020 to 4,034 in 2021, while thousands of minor dependents also appeared in the Pentagon health dataset between 2014 and 2022.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
The number of U.S. military service members and dependents identified in Defense Department health records as patients with gender dysphoria increased sharply during the first year of the Biden administration, according to internal Pentagon documents obtained through Freedom of Information Act litigation.
The Defense Health Agency records show 17,596 unique patients in a gender dysphoria dataset covering 2014 through 2022, including 3,807 patients younger than 18.
1072960960 Transgender US Military Report by yourNEWS Media
The documents were initially obtained by the Center to Advance Security in America, or CASA, through FOIA litigation and subsequently reported by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
According to the records, the number of patients diagnosed with gender dysphoria rose from 2,221 in 2020 to 4,034 in 2021, an increase of approximately 82%.
The 2021 total was also more than eight times the number recorded in 2014, the first year covered by the documents.
Separate internal Air Force records indicate that the increase created additional staffing demands within the service.
“New patients in 2021 exceed previous 3 years’ combined,” Air Force emails and staffing documents stated.
The Air Force sought additional nurses, a social worker, an administrative technician and a licensed vocational nurse to address the increased workload, according to the records.
Air Force Public Affairs referred questions about the broader dataset to the Defense Health Agency. The DHA did not provide a comment in time for publication, while the Office of the Air Force Surgeon General and Air Force Medical Service Public Affairs did not respond to requests for comment.
The Pentagon declined to comment on the documents, citing ongoing litigation.
James Fitzpatrick, director of CASA, said the rapid increase raised questions about whether access to medical treatment may have influenced some individuals’ decisions to enter military service.
“I think there could have been something going on where people may have been joining the Air Force or military in general in order to get this care and then exit,” Fitzpatrick told the DCNF. “I trust that concern is being addressed now, given the new tightening of the rules surrounding this in the military, per the executive orders that came out last year, but yeah, I think it’s concerning, and again it just shows their priority and their ideology almost above anything else … was to you know push this type of medical care and this type of ideology onto our soldiers and military service members.”
The documents themselves establish the increase in patient counts but do not, based on the information provided, determine why individual patients entered military service or sought treatment.
Fitzpatrick argued that the timing of the increase reflected policy priorities adopted after President Joe Biden took office.
“It just shows that the Biden administration was prioritizing this. They were; the numbers seem dramatically increased just immediately as he came in,” Fitzpatrick told the DCNF. “I think this is just something at the top of their list that they prioritized from day one. They weren’t shy about it. They proudly wanted to push trans ideology and trans medical care in our military, and that includes to spouses and to children, and they were not shy about spending government resources.”
White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales similarly framed the records as evidence of a broader difference between the Biden and Trump administrations over military personnel policy.
“Joe Biden allowed transgender insanity to run rampant in our military; President Trump restored lethality and readiness to our warfighters,” Wales told the DCNF. “The United States Military is the greatest in the world, and President Trump is keeping it that way by focusing on elite readiness standards – not DEI or woke gender ideology.”
The policy environment surrounding transgender military service changed substantially during the period covered by the records.
Biden signed Executive Order 14004 on Jan. 25, 2021, reversing restrictions adopted during President Donald Trump’s first administration.
The Biden action revoked a March 23, 2018, Trump presidential memorandum concerning transgender military service.
After returning to the White House, Trump revoked Biden’s executive order on Jan. 20, 2025. He signed another executive order on Jan. 27 establishing a new administration policy governing transgender service in the military.
Fitzpatrick said the current approach reflects a different view of the armed forces’ purpose.
“I think that Secretary Hegseth and President Trump are getting us back to the thought that the military exists to fight and win the nation’s wars, to kill our nation’s enemies, right? To portray power on the world stage and to accomplish our goals in the world, it doesn’t exist to be this experimental lab for those undergoing gender dysphoria and think that they may be of a different gender,” Fitzpatrick told the DCNF.
The records also provide details about an Air Force organization responsible for coordinating medical care involving transgender service members.
Known as the Transgender Health Medical Evaluation Unit, or THMEU, the organization traces its formal origins to an Air Force Surgeon General initiative launched in 2019, according to internal Air Force correspondence.
Related services may date back further.
An internal Air Force presentation described THMEU as “a continuation of an AFMOA [Air Force Medical Operations Agency] initiative started in 2016 (Medical Multi-disciplinary Team or ‘MMDT’).”
According to the documents, THMEU was responsible for confirming gender dysphoria diagnoses, creating and updating medical treatment plans, monitoring medical profiles and readiness, and evaluating whether service members were medically prepared for gender-marker changes.
The records also provide an age breakdown for the 3,807 minor dependents identified in the dataset.
A majority were age 15 or younger.
According to the documents, 2,081 patients were 15 or younger, while 833 were 16 and another 893 were 17.
Previous Defense Department emails obtained by the DCNF also discussed possible legal liability related to providing gender-related medical care to minors.
According to those materials, a Defense Department memorandum addressed circumstances in which department personnel could face legal proceedings involving sex-change procedures performed on minors.
The previously obtained emails stated that the Department of War may provide protection to civilian employees or service members facing such proceedings and could potentially pay a “settlement” or “claim” involving department personnel.
The newly disclosed patient data add numerical detail to a military policy dispute that has shifted significantly between presidential administrations.
While the records show a pronounced increase in gender dysphoria patients beginning in 2021 and document a corresponding Air Force staffing response, the reasons for that increase are not established by the dataset alone.
The figures nevertheless provide a broader picture of the scale of gender dysphoria-related medical care within the military health system during the period, including treatment involving thousands of dependents younger than 18 and the expansion of specialized personnel needed to manage the caseload.
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