President Biden fulfilled a campaign promise on Monday by revoking Donald Trump’s ban on U.S. military service by openly transgender Americans.
The president called his action “the right thing to do.”
“Biden had promised to reverse Trump’s ban as one of the first acts of his presidency,” reported the Washington Post.
“Trump had announced the ban via tweet in 2017, terminating a decision by the Obama administration in 2016” that allowed transgender individuals to serve while publicly acknowledging their gender status.
In a statement, the White House said, in part:
“President Biden believes that gender identity should not be a bar to military service, and that America’s strength is found in its diversity.”
During a Senate confirmation hearing last Tuesday, Newsweek reports, now-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin backed repeal of the ban, addressing the transgender community directly:
“If you’re fit and you’re qualified to serve and you can maintain the standards, you should be allowed to serve and you can expect that I will support that throughout.”
Biden’s order “requires the Pentagon to report within 60 days its progress in unraveling the ban,” says USA Today.
“The Trump policy required transgender troops to serve based on their sex at birth. Transgender troops who had begun receiving treatment under the Obama-era policy were grandfathered in.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi derided Trump’s policy as “bigoted.”
“The Biden administration’s actions affirm that I and other transgender service members belong in our military, our country, and our society,” Navy Petty Officer First Class Brock Stone told the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). “I look forward to the continued progress that I know our great country is capable of.”
“This is a victory for our clients who want the opportunity to serve their country openly and freely in our armed forces. Discrimination should have no place in our country and in our federal government,” said Josh Block, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s LGBT & HIV Project.
