The Biden administration’s requirements for who must register for Selective Service in the event that there is a draft includes those persons that identify as trangender but are born male. “Almost all male US citizens and male immigrants, who are 18 through 25, are required to register with Selective Service,” and that includes males who identify as transgender.
“US citizens or immigrants who are born male and changed their gender to female are still required to register. Individuals who are born female and changed their gender to male are not required to register,” reads the guidance on requirements from the Selective Service System.
As soon as Biden took office, he enacted an executive order, one of many, that said that those who identify as transgender should be treated by the military according to their gender identity and not according to their biological sex. This could mean that those transgender males who identify as women would serve alongside women, in women’s units, in the event that they were called up by Selective Service.
The way that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) defines transgender is “people whose gender identity and/or expression is different from the sex assigned to them at birth (e.g. the sex listed on an original birth certificate).” In several states, people can legally change their original birth certificate to align with their gender identity and not their actual sex.
Interestingly, the Selective Service does not require those who were born female but identify as transgender to register for the draft, only those who were born male. For those who were born female but identify as transgender, Selective Service asks that they provide a letter explaining that this is the reason they do not have to register for the draft.
