Keypoints:
- President Joe Biden on Monday overturned a controversial ban by his predecessor on transgender individuals serving in the US military.
- Former Democratic President Barack Obama in 2016 allowed trans people to serve openly and receive medical care to transition genders.
- Republican President Donald Trump froze their recruitment while allowing serving personnel to remain.
The Biden administration is setting a new tone at the White House with an executive order lifting Trump’s ban on transgender people in the military. On Monday, Joe Biden issued an executive order reversing the Trump administration policy which had barred the transgender individuals from serving in the United States military.
“What I’m doing is enabling all qualified Americans to serve their country in uniform and essentially restoring the situation as it existed before with transgender personnel,” Biden said in remarks to reporters at the White House.
In 2017, former president Donald Trump had ordered the ban on transgender individuals serving in the US military.The order was challenged in federal courts as discriminatory, revised by Trump in 2018 and eventually allowed to take effect by the US Supreme Court in January 2019.
Lloyd Austin, the incoming secretary of defense also supported on lifting the ban. Biden met with Austin in the White House’s Oval Office on Monday prior to Austin’s ceremonial swearing-in.
“Our armed forces are at their best when they represent the talents of our entire population, regardless of gender identity,” Austin said in a tweet on Monday.
“I fully support (President Biden’s) direction today that all transgender individuals who wish to serve and can meet the appropriate standards shall be able to do so,” Austin said.
“No Americans should be turned away from serving in defence of their country simply because they are transgender,” Representative Steny Hoyer, a leading House Democrat, said in a statement.
Another ‘unifying’ move by the new administration?” Republican Senator John Cornyn questioned on Twitter.
Another "unifying" move by the new Administration?
Biden Ends Partial Ban on Transgender Soldiers in U.S. Military https://t.co/DiVXdFnEQ8
— Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) January 25, 2021
Biden’s action affirms “that I and other transgender service members belong in our military,” he said.
“President Biden believes that gender identity should not be a bar to military service, and that America’s strength is found in its diversity,” the White House said in a statement announcing the order.
