House Democrats plan to unveil legislation Wednesday protecting the ability of transgender people to serve openly in the military as President Trump’s administration works to remove them. 

The “Fit to Serve Act” would prohibit the Defense Department from disqualifying transgender people from service or involuntarily separating members over a current diagnosis, history or symptoms of gender dysphoria, and bar the armed forces from requiring troops to serve only according to their birth sex. It also would forbid the military from denying “medically necessary health care coverage” to service members because of their gender identity, according to a copy of the legislation obtained by The Hill. 

The proposal echoes a separate House bill to prevent the military from hiring or firing someone because of their gender identity that more than 40 House Democrats filed in January ahead of Trump’s inauguration. It also comes as House GOP members move to permanently ban transgender people from serving. 

Rep. Adam Smith (Wash.), the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, intends to file the measure Wednesday morning with Democratic Reps. Mark Takano (Calif.), Chrissy Houlahan (Penn.), Sara Jacobs (Calif.) and Eric Sorensen (Ill.), though Republicans’ race to pass Trump’s “big, beautiful” reconciliation bill may impact the timing, one staffer said. 

Smith, who chaired the Armed Services Committee from 2019 to 2022, spoke in opposition to Trump’s first ban on trans military service and cheered former President Biden’s reversal of the “harmful, discriminatory policy” in 2021. He voted against last year’s annual defense policy bill over a provision prohibiting TRICARE, the military’s health program, from covering gender-affirming care for the children of service members, which Smith said was based on “a biased notion against transgender people.” 

In a statement shared with The Hill, he said the Trump administration’s latest policy “will weaken” the military by needlessly ousting members who have already proven they are fit to serve. 

“Enforcing this bigoted policy for the sake of cruelty and to score partisan points is antithetical to what the United States of America and our Armed Forces stand and fight for,” said Smith. “Transgender service members have put their lives on the line in defense of our freedom — we in Congress must now fight for their ability to serve and their fundamental right to exist.” 

Trump and administration officials since January have sought to enforce a strict gender binary, dismissing transgender identities as “insanity” and equating them with deception in written policy and public remarks. In an executive order signed during his first hours back in office, Trump proclaimed that the federal government recognizes only two sexes, male and female. 

In his order to ban transgender troops from the military, titled Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness, the president wrote that being trans is a “falsehood” and transgender individuals “cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service.” 

“Beyond the hormonal and surgical medical interventions involved, adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual’s sex conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life,” Trump’s order states. 

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has claimed repeatedly that allowing transgender troops to serve in the military threatens its lethality and effectiveness and undermines unit cohesion.