‘It’s the right thing to do’: Biden repeals Trump’s ban on transgender people in the military
President Biden rescinded his predecessor’s widely reviled ban on transgender people in the U.S. military on Monday, ripping the restrictions as irrational and detrimental to “our core values.”
In addition to immediately scrapping the transgender ban implemented by former President Donald Trump in 2018, Biden used his executive power to require the Department of Defense to reinstate any service members who were discharged or denied enlistment because of it.
“America is stronger, at home and around the world, when it is inclusive. The military is no exception,” Biden wrote in the executive order reversing Trump’s ban. “Allowing all qualified Americans to serve their country in uniform is better for the military and better for the country because an inclusive force is a more effective force. Simply put, it’s the right thing to do and is in our national interest.”
The Trump ban blocked individuals from enlisting in the military if they had been diagnosed with a condition known as gender dysphoria. It also held that individuals could only enlist in accordance with their birth sex.
In announcing the service restrictions over Twitter in July 2017, Trump claimed they were justified because transgender troops rack up “tremendous medical costs.”
However, Biden noted that Trump’s reasoning was belied by a study commissioned by the Pentagon.
“In 2016, a comprehensive study requested by the Department of Defense found that enabling transgender individuals to serve openly in the United States military would have only a minimal impact on military readiness and healthcare costs,” Biden’s order said. “The study also concluded that open transgender service has had no significant impact on operational effectiveness or unit cohesion in foreign militaries.”
Newly-installed Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who joined Biden in the Oval Office for his signing of the order, pledged to “expeditiously” reexamine cases where transgender troops may have been subjected to “adverse administrative proceedings.”
“This is the right thing to do,” Austin said in a statement. “It is also the smart thing to do.”
According to Pentagon data, some 14,700 U.S. troops on active duty and in the reserves identified as transgender in 2019, though not all sought hormone treatment or surgery to transition into the opposite sex.
LGBTQ activists and former military officials for years accused Trump of hiding behind cost-saving concerns to enforce a bigoted policy.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), the chairwoman of the Senate Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee, praised Biden for rolling back Trump’s “harmful and discriminatory” policy.
“Individuals who are willing to put on the uniform of our country and risk their lives to defend our freedoms should be received with commendation, not prejudice,” Gillibrand said. “I’m proud that our armed services will once again embrace the principle that anyone who can meet military standards should be allowed to serve, regardless of gender identity.”
The transgender ban repeal is part of a sweeping effort by Biden to use executive power to undo some of the most controversial tenets of Trump’s legacy.
Last week, Biden issued a flurry of executive orders to lift Trump’s so-called “Muslim ban” on immigration and halt construction of more walls on the U.S. border with Mexico, among other reversals.
