Squirm alert: Dan Crenshaw can't handle his transgender military service flip-flops

In an interview that aired before President Donald Trump signed an executive order threatening alltransgendermilitary service members’ participation in military service on Monday evening, CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins exposed a stark flip-flop from Republican U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Texas, who struggled to reconcile his past statements supporting transgender Americans’ participation in military service with his current support for the anti-trans policy.

Crenshaw, who was a commissioned officer in the U.S. Navy, reached the rank of lieutenant commander. During his third deployment, he was wounded by an improvised explosive device, resulting in the loss of his right eye. Drawing on his military experience, he framed his opposition to transgender service as an issue of readiness, saying, “It makes it very difficult to deploy you into the places that we need to deploy you.”

Collins confronted Crenshaw with a 2021 segment on Fox News in which he said, “I think people should be able to serve openly and tell people what their identity is, and anybody who can meet those standards should be able to serve.” When pressed on his support for Trump’s expected sweeping ban, which affects all transgender service members regardless of medical history or readiness, Crenshaw doubled down on the claim that transitioning disqualifies somebody from meeting military standards. “By definition, if you have transitioned into a different gender, you are not meeting our medical standards,” he said.

Crenshaw said that if somebody wanted to identify as trans, that would be okay, but getting medical treatment to transition was not.

Collins pointed out that Trump’s order does not distinguish between transgender people who have undergone medical procedures and those who have not. Crenshaw, who said he hadn’t seen the text of the policy, declared he supported the policy regardless, insisting his position had “always been very clear.”

Advocacy group SPARTA, which represents transgender military personnel, noted the contributions of trans military members. “Transgender Americans have served openly and honorably in the U.S. Armed Forces for nearly a decade,” the group said. It emphasized that transgender service members fill “critical roles in combat arms, aviation, nuclear engineering, law enforcement, and military intelligence, many requiring years of specialized training and expertise.”

SPARTA also addressed misconceptions about the impact of medical transitions on readiness. “While some transgender troops do have surgery, the recovery time and cost is minimal, and is scheduled so as not to impact deployments or mission readiness (all of which is similar to a non-emergent minor knee surgery). The readiness and physical capabilities of transgender service members is not different from that of other service members,” the statement read.

The group underscored the contributions of transgender troops, noting their service in combat zones and high-stakes missions, as well as their role in strengthening “unit cohesion and morale.”

Trump signed the executive order aboard Air Force One on Monday evening, and it was published on the White House website shortly before midnight. The order outlines sweeping changes to military policies related to gender identity but stops short of an immediate all-out ban on transgender service members. Instead, it directs the Department of Defense to revise medical and personnel standards over 60 days to ensure compliance with the new policy.

For the estimated 15,000 transgender service members currently serving, SPARTA pledged continued support, saying they are “standing by to support all transgender service members impacted by this policy.”