The Marine Corps announced Friday that transgender troops whose service contracts are expiring can no longer seek extension waivers while separation boards consider whether they should remain in uniform. The decision eliminates a temporary route that previously allowed affected Marines to continue serving until the process concluded.

The service disclosed the change through an administrative message revoking its earlier policy. Under that policy, Marines undergoing involuntary separation could remain eligible for continued service while awaiting a board’s final determination.

“The authority to grant service extensions to Marines undergoing involuntary administrative separation processing under the purview of reference (a) is rescinded,” the message said.

President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Jan. 27, 2025, expelling transgender service members from the military. The administration argued that those troops could not “satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service.”

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A Pentagon memo published shortly afterward encouraged transgender service members to separate voluntarily under the policy. It offered twice the amount of pay they would receive through involuntary separation pay as an incentive to depart.

Transgender troops previously told Military Times that the process was not voluntary from their perspective. They said they were being forced from military service because of their gender identity.

Those who declined voluntary separation entered the involuntary separation process. That route provided an opportunity to appear before a military board and argue that they should be retained.

The New York Times reported on Oct. 23 that some boards had begun voting to retain transgender service members despite the Trump administration’s exclusionary policy. A favorable board decision, however, did not immediately settle the matter.

Navy Secretary Hung Cao must approve a board’s decision before a service member’s retention becomes official. That requirement created a timing problem for troops whose existing contracts were scheduled to expire before Cao completed the final sign off.

The previous Marine Corps policy addressed that gap by allowing an extension waiver. A Marine could therefore remain in service while awaiting approval, rather than reaching the end of a contract before the retention decision became official.

The policy announced Friday removes that possibility. According to the source, some service members who otherwise might have continued serving will instead be separated because their contracts expire before the process is completed.

Staff Sgt. Damien Contreras, who was profiled by The New York Times in its report about separation board decisions, is among those affected. Contreras chose involuntary separation after the transgender military ban took effect and presented his case to a military separation board on Aug. 28.

He learned the following day that the Marine Corps had elected to retain him. After roughly 10 years in the service, however, Contreras faced a Nov. 7 expiration date for his Marine Corps contract.

Contreras applied for an extension waiver through the Marine Corps’ Manpower and Reserve Affairs office while awaiting Cao’s approval. Contreras said the office officially received his application on Oct. 14.

His plan was to renew his contract, serve for at least another decade and eventually retire as a Marine. Contreras, his attorney and his chain of command repeatedly checked with the Manpower and Reserve Affairs office, but were told the paperwork was still processing and had not been approved.

Contreras saw the new policy prohibiting extension waivers on Friday. Less than 30 minutes later, his attorney sent him a forwarded email from the Manpower and Reserve Affairs office showing that his extension request had been denied.

Without another intervention, Contreras will be removed from the military on Friday despite his stated desire to continue serving. “It’s just another brick wall that’s been put up to find a new way to force us out faster,” Contreras said.

Transgender service members are challenging the military policy through Talbott v. USA, alleging discrimination and seeking to stop the ban. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled on June 1 that the Pentagon’s transgender military ban was unlawful and upheld a preliminary injunction intended to let affected troops continue serving.

Several weeks later, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted a motion seeking to certify Talbott v. USA as a class action lawsuit. Such certification, once paired with the mandated injunction, would extend the plaintiffs’ protections to all currently serving transgender service members.

Those legal steps have not been finalized. The appeals court has not technically mandated the preliminary injunction, and the district court has not officially certified the case as a class action lawsuit, leaving the Trump administration’s transgender military ban in effect.

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