Selective Service’s Quiet and Transphobic Policy Change

Many of the Trump administration’s attacks on marginalized communities, including transgender and gender non-conforming people, are public shows of force. But  the administration’s quieter, under-the-radar attacks can be just as harmful. As of June 30, 2026, Selective Service – formally known as the Selective Service System – will no longer issue status information letters (SILs) for people who are ineligible to register for the draft. While this may sound like a small administrative change, it is a direct effort to harm transgender and gender non-conforming people.

Selective Service is a United States agency that maintains a national database of people who are potentially subject to “military conscription,” more often known as the draft. Selective Service was created by law in 1917 after the United States declared war against Germany in World War I and the U.S. Army failed to recruit enough new soldiers. The registration system has evolved over decades, including periods of mandatory military conscription, sorting registrants into different categories, and changing the criteria for being drafted into military service. The modern registration system was established by Proclamation 4771, signed by President Jimmy Carter, requiring all male citizens between 18-26 years old to register with Selective Service for a potential draft.

Under the current system, people between the ages of 18 and 25 years old who were assigned male at birth are required to register with Selective Service. It is a binary system; Selective Service’s foundational statutes did not account for transgender, gender non-conforming, or intersex people in its registration criteria.

Anyone assigned male at birth, including transgender women or transfeminine people, are required to register with Selective Service within thirty (30) days of turning 18 years old. Even if they no longer use a male gender marker to identify themselves, if they have already transitioned, or if there is a health condition that would prevent them from serving, Selective Service is based solely on someone’s sex assigned at birth, not gender identity, and requires registration on that basis alone. These individuals will need to register with Selective Service or face potential legal consequences for failing to register.

However, anyone assigned female at birth is exempt and ineligible from registering with Selective Service. This can cause serious issues for individuals who use a male gender marker when applying for federal programs and benefits, including federal student loans, government assistance, and federal jobs and internships. Individuals who identify themselves as male when applying for such programs and benefits [are/may be?] asked of they have registered with Selective Service. If they state that they have not registered with Selective Service, they lose eligibility for those programs and benefits.

In the past, some transgender men dealt with this issue by registering with Selective Service. While this strategy has always carried legal risks, this is particularly inadvisable now, when the Trump administration is eagerly seeking opportunities to target and penalize transgender people.

The better solution for most transgender men has been to request a status information letter (SIL) showing that the applicant is exempt from registering with Selective Service. This relatively easy option was available for anyone who was ineligible for Selective Service, including people assigned female at birth, lawful non-immigrants who are residing in the United States on non-immigrant visas, incarcerated people, or disabled people who reside in care facilities. SILs allowed people assigned female at birth to honestly identify themselves as male and as not being registered with Selective Service without having to out themselves as transgender and without losing eligibility for the program or benefit.

But as of June 30, 2026, SILs are no longer a solution. Selective Service quietly updated its Frequently Asked Questions page of its website. It now reads:

As of June 30, 2026, the Selective Service System no longer issues status letters (status information letters). Men can check whether they are registered by visiting www.sss.gov/verify/. Men who are not registered can consult the requirements table located at Who Needs to Register : Selective Service System.  If you are requesting a benefit or employment that requires registration, the decision to provide any right, privilege or benefit (including jobs) is made by the agency, school, or organization receiving the request. You may want to include with your application to your benefit provider a copy of the requirements table and any other pertinent information or documentation to support your situation (i.e., entered the United States after age 26).  Selective Service cannot determine benefit eligibility.

This policy will be disastrous for young transgender men, transmasculine people, gender non-conforming people, and intersex people. For anyone applying for federal student loans to attend college or graduate school, for federal work, or for government aid who would have relied on SILs, they will now be forced to decide: disclose their transgender status directly to federal agents and employers, or find another way forward in an increasingly transphobic America.