Fort Carson Soldier One of 1,000 Leaving After Transgender Ban Temporarily Upheld

Fort Carson Sgt. Mason Benavides is leaving an Army that no longer wants him.

He is one of about 1,000 military service members voluntarily leaving, the Department of Defense announced Thursday after a Supreme Court order that said the Trump administration’s ban on transgender soldiers could be enforced.

The Supreme Court order allows the military to discharge transgender troops until the legal merits of the case are decided.

Previously, District Court Judge Ana Reyes had blocked the enforcement of the ban in March, writing that it violated the legal right to equal protection under the law based on the premise that all people are created equal.

After the Supreme Court issued its decision, the plaintiffs in the case called it discriminatory.

“We remain steadfast in our belief that this ban violates constitutional guarantees of equal protection and will ultimately be struck down,” Lambda Legal and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation said in a statement.

The fight over transgender troops in the military was reignited when President Donald Trump’s executive order on transgender troops came down in January.

After nearly six years in the Army, Benavides found it insulting. He’s previously received positive feedback from his leadership team, who have told him he is a valuable asset as a chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear specialist.

“It said I was unfit to serve with integrity,” he said. Later that day, he hit a new personal record lifting weights because he was so mad.

The order impacts less than 1% of the 1% of adults in the U.S. who serve in the active duty, a tiny group among those who put on the uniform, he said.

“They are willing to serve. They are willing to do the job that not a lot of people want,” Benavides said.

Trump’s order, however, singled out the group, saying that transgender troops cannot meet the high standards for “troop readiness, lethality, cohesion, honesty, humility, uniformity and integrity” because of their “medical, surgical and mental health constraints.”

In a February policy, the military further stated that gender dysphoria, or the strong desire to be a gender other than that assigned at birth, is incompatible with military service and not consistent with interests of national security.

In an address posted on X, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said that the department will involuntarily separate those who don’t choose to leave on their own.

“This is the president’s agenda, this is what the American people voted for and we are going to continue to relentlessly pursue it,” he said.

A lower court had previously upheld a 2022 policy that held transgender people to the same standards as other service members, but allowed them to receive gender transition medical care.

Transgender troops were first allowed to serve openly in 2016. At the time, RAND estimated that 2,500 transgender people were serving in the active duty, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said.

A 2023 position paper against transgender troops put out by a group known as STARRS, or Stand Against Racism or Radicalism in the Services, equated gender-affirming care to other medical conditions that disqualify people for military service.

“Gender transition medical treatments adversely impact the military and ( Department of Veterans Affairs) budgets due to the high cost of surgeries and life-long hormone treatments, mental health counseling and medical care,” the paper said.

The Department of Defense announced on Thursday that active-duty transgender troops have until June 6 to voluntarily leave before facing involuntary separation. Reservists have until July 7. Service members also have the option to apply for a waiver, which could be granted if it’s found to be in the government’s interest to keep them on staff. But they would have to work under a policy that only recognizes two sexes, and states that an individual’s sex is immutable during a person’s life.

‘Lives Will Already Be Ruined’

For retired Lt. Col. Leanne Smullen, who was raised in Colorado Springs and lives in Denver, the order banning transgender troops betrays the ideals of rewarding people based on merit and service above self.

“It sends the message: You are not equal, even if you are willing to serve and sacrifice,” she said.

Smullen served for 17 years as a member of the LGBTQ+ community under "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell," a policy that allowed members of the community to serve, but not to acknowledge their sexual identity. She chose to serve quietly under the policy, she said, and believes the ban against transgender service members requires them to make the same choice between their identity and their service.

For Smullen, the coming dismissals represent a step backward, even if a court later sides with transgender troops.

“Even if they are victorious down the road, thousands of lives will already be ruined because the purge can continue today,” Smullen said.

The involuntary discharges will likely hit so personally, Smullen said, she doesn’t expect many transgender troops will want to return to duty, even if they are allowed to do so.

She also sees the ban as part of the culture war that serves as a distraction from much larger issues, such as the economy.

Community Support

Across the community, the decision sends a damaging message, said Stoney Roberts, the site director for the Prism Community Collective in Colorado Springs.

“It’s saying that trans folks don’t belong, and that we don’t have a right to exist,” said Roberts, who is transgender.

The resource and community center opened on Tejon Street about a year ago in the wake of the Club Q shooting that killed five people.

The center has mental health clinicians in addition to social gatherings, such as game nights, to provide time away from heavy topics, Roberts said.

He said that even during this tough time that’s created lots of anxiety the transgender community is strong locally.

“Folks are already leaning into each other and doing what they can to try to show up for each other,” he said.

Ready for the Next Chapter

Benavides said he is ready to leave because he is tired of the flip-flopping policy on transgender people in the military. It is a bit of ahead of schedule, but he was already planning to leave in December to pursue his education.

Since he has served six years and agreed to leave voluntarily he will receive more separation pay and won’t be required to pay back bonuses. Those who are discharged involuntarily will receive less pay and may be required to repay bonuses, according to the February policy.

“I am just getting tired and I want to move to the next chapter,” he said.

He was inspired to join the service by JROTC and loved the debates over hard topics the class would hold. He would still advise his high school self to enlist because it helped him when he needed it the most, helping him mature faster, expanding his perspective and boosting his confidence.

He transitioned during his service during the Biden Administration.

While he was nondeployable for six months during the transition, he still went to work and participated in training.

“(Transitioning) never hindered me doing my job,” he said.

He noted many other soldiers are also temporarily nondeployable for medical treatment as they heal from physical injuries or receive mental health care.

Recently, he has been on administrative leave and working on integrating back into civilian life with a job as a bartender and a double major in chemistry and biochemistry.

In March, Benavides and his girlfriend Emma Hauser also rushed to get married because they were worried that marriage rights for LBGTQ+ could get revoked.

“If that gets taken away. ... We have a paper and we have the rings,” he said.

In this next chapter of his life, Benavides hopes to prepare for a career although he hasn’t decided on a field yet. His options include medical research, astrochemistry and astrophysics.

Still, he is sad to leave people who value him, even reaching out when he was on leave to see if he needed anything.

“I couldn’t have asked for a more supportive company,” he said.

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