For the past decade, founding media has touted supporters' claims that 15,000 transgender people are serving the US military.
But this week, President Donald Trump's Pentagon revealed that the transgender population is only 4,240 service members.
This will be one trans person for every 500 service members of the US military, with 2.1 million active and reserve members.
That transgender share is just 0.2%, or 1%, of the military.
From a football perspective, transgender share is only 8.6 inches on a 120-yard soccer field.
The highly praised 15,000 in the media is almost four times the Pentagon's 4,240 self-declared trans service members in 2025.
That number was posted as a Pentagon official It has been officially adopted policy Except for the perception of transgenderism With the US military. This policy does not rule out service members who personally prefer to be born as members of the opposite sex, but only service members who other service members claim to treat them as members of the opposite sex.
The policy declares: “This department recognizes only two genders: male and female. The gender of an individual is constant and it is constant during a person's life.”
New 4,240 numbers reported With just four media Until late Friday.
However, since 2011, many media outlets have published 15,000 inflated estimates. The claims were verified by the media as many reporters and editors sympathize with transgenderism as pro-transgender groups claimed they had around 15,000 transgender service members in 2011 and 2018.
For example, in 2021 Washington Post I wrote it“Activists said Trump-era rules banned transgender personnel in the military.
Los Angeles Times I wrote it In 2021, “The Pentagon does not hold data on the number of transgender personnel. External groups estimate that the military has 1,300-15,000 transgender units, which have around 1.3 million active units.”
Even in 2025, National Public Radio It has been reported January 28th: ”An estimated 15,000 soldiers are transgender. The basis of the number A survey of active duty veterans and estimates of reserves and national security personnel. ”
February 9th, New York Times The editorial committee provided Higher estimates He condemned President Donald Trump's plan to remove transgenderism from the military. “The order called for the imposition of federally mandated discrimination against an estimated 15,000 to 25,000 Americans who agreed to risk their lives to protect the country.”
The 2018 survey was conducted by a transgender advocacy group. Palm Center.
It was built on a Pentagon survey that estimated 8,980 transgender members of the 1.3 million military population of the active military. The Palm Center then added estimates for 5,727 additional trans service members in the 780,000 reserves.
The 2018 estimate was very similar to the 2014 survey by the Williams Institute, which merged with the Palm Center in 2011.
Interestingly, the Palm Center estimated that 80% of the transgender population are men pretending to be women.
Despite the media's pro-transgender coverage of sex vs. gender debate, public support for transgenderism has been declining since before 2020.
In December 2021, Breitbart News reported:
“Now, our opposition wins the arguments about trance youth in sports, against all the arguments we have tried on our part.Messaging Guide“A California-based transgender law center.
Overall, “We can at best elicit sympathy. [of current supporters] “It's impossible to generate sustainable interest from the persuasive audience of swing voters,” the guide is entitled “The Freedom to Become a Transgender Youth and Yourself.”
In October, Breitbart News said:
Rasmussen's report investigation Of the approximately 2,008 voters held from October 22-24, 2024, 65% expressed their opposition to transgender men competing in women's sports. Of this number, 50% say they are “strongly opposed” to the idea, while 15% say they are “slightly opposed.”
Other polls have reported an increase in the number of adolescents declaring support for LGBT identities. However, that increase is limited to young women, and perhaps reflects Pro-transgender Rejection with school propaganda pOrnography in high school dating culture.
