President Biden could roll back the former President Trump
Donald Trump NYT: Rep. Perry played a role in alleged Trump plan to oust acting AG Arizona GOP, condemns top state Republicans McCain, Flake and Ducey Biden and UK Prime Minister discuss NATO multilateralism on call MOREThe transgender military ban on Monday, a source familiar with the plan confirmed to The Hill.
Biden is expected to sign an executive order reversing Trump’s policy once the Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin
Lloyd Austin Biden to wait weekend for State Department pickup Trump impeachment trial to begin the week of Feb. 8 Trump DHS chief calls for prompt confirmation of Biden pick amid Hawley hold MORE was ceremonially sworn in at the White House on Monday, the source said.
When asked for comment, the Pentagon referred The Hill to the White House, which did not immediately respond to an email request. The timing was first reported by CBS News.
Biden promised during the presidential campaign that he would lift the ban and called this a priority on day one. But it wasn’t one of a series of executive orders that Biden signed hours after his inauguration amid a delay in Austin’s confirmation.
Austin was confirmed Friday morning and was officially sworn in later that day.
At his hearing last week, Austin said he was in favor of lifting the ban.
“I support the president’s plan to overturn the ban,” Austin told the Senate Armed Forces Committee. “I do believe, Senator, as I said in my opening statement, that if you are fit and qualified to serve and you can maintain the standards, you should be allowed to serve.”
The Obama administration, in which Biden was vice president, lifted the previous ban on transgender military service in 2016.
But in 2017, Trump tweeted that he would reverse open service policies, saying he “would not accept or allow transgender people to serve in the US military in any capacity.”
In 2019, the Pentagon enacted a policy designed to comply with Trump’s order prohibiting most transgender people from serving in the military unless they do so in their biological gender.
The Trump administration denied that the policy was a ban due to some limited exceptions. For example, Trump’s policy allowed transgender troops and recruits to request a waiver to serve openly. It also allowed those who came under the Obama administration’s policies to continue serving openly.
The military has only been known to have issued one waiver since Trump’s policy came into effect, and opponents of the policy say the data shows it is in fact a ban similar to the defunct ‘don’t ask, don’t ask. tell ‘policy that prohibited open service. by gay, lesbian and bisexual service personnel.
Four lawsuits were filed against the ban. Lawyers in the cases have said they expect the lawsuits to be resolved if and when Biden reverses Trump’s policies.
Biden was under pressure to lift the ban quickly, with lawyers saying there was no reason he couldn’t do it immediately.
A memo released in July by the Palm Center, which investigates gender and sexuality issues in the military, said the open service could be reinstated within 30 days of an executive order lifting the ban because the Pentagon’s policy framework keep the Obama administration intact. to allow those who had already come out to continue serving openly.