WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden signed an injunction Monday to reverse a Trump-era Pentagon policy that largely banned transgender people from serving in the military.
The new order, which Biden signed in the Oval Office during a meeting with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, nullifies a ban imposed by President Donald Trump in a tweet during his freshman year in office. It immediately prohibits a soldier from being forced out of the military on the basis of gender identity.
Biden’s order says gender identity should not be a barrier to military service.
“America is stronger at home and around the world, if inclusive. The military is no exception, ”the order says. “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 is the right choice and it is in our national interest. “
The order orders the departments of Defense and Homeland Security to take steps to carry out the order for the military and the coast guard. And it says they should re-examine the records of service members who have been fired or not re-listed because of gender identity issues under the previous policy.
It requires departments to submit a report of their progress to the president within 60 days.
It was widely expected that Biden would quickly overturn Trump’s policies. And the move was also backed by Biden’s newly confirmed defense secretary, retired Army General Lloyd Austin, who spoke at his Senate confirmation hearing last week about the need to undo it.
“I support the president’s plan or plan to overturn the ban,” Austin said. “If you are fit and qualified to serve and you can maintain the standards, you should be allowed to serve.”
Under Biden’s new policy, transgender servicemembers will not be fired based on gender identity, and will be able to serve in their preferred gender once their transition is completed and registered in the defense’s reporting system.
The decision comes because Biden plans to turn his attention to issues of equality that he believes overshadow almost all aspects of American life. Prior to his inauguration, Biden’s transition team circulated a memo by Ron Klain, now the White House Chief of Staff, outlining Biden’s plan to use his first full week as president “ to promote equality and promote colored communities and other disadvantaged people. communities. “
The move to overturn the transgender ban is also the latest example of Biden using executive power in his early days as president to dismantle Trump’s legacy. His first actions included orders to undo Trump administration bans on travelers from several predominantly Muslim countries, halt construction of the wall on the US-Mexico border, and launch an initiative to promote racial equality. to improve.
Until a few years ago, soldiers could be fired from the military for being transgender, but that changed during the Obama administration. In 2016, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced that transgender people already serving in the military would be allowed to serve openly. And the military set July 1, 2017 as the date on which transgender people would be allowed to register.
After Trump took office, his administration delayed the date of enlistment and called for additional research to determine whether allowing transgender people to serve would affect military readiness or effectiveness.
A few weeks later, Trump surprised military leaders by tweeting that the government would not accept or allow transgender people to serve in the military “in any capacity”. “Our military must be focused on a decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the enormous medical costs and disruption that transgender would bring in the military,” he wrote.
After a lengthy and complicated legal battle and additional assessments, in April 2019, the Department of Defense approved the new policy that failed to comply with an outright ban, but banned transgender troops and military recruits from gender transitions and required most individuals at birth.
Under that policy, currently transgender troops and anyone who had signed up for employment before the effective date would be able to proceed with plans for hormone treatments and gender transition if they were diagnosed with gender dysphoria.
But after that date, no one with gender dysphoria who was taking hormones or had switched sexes was allowed to sign up. Troops already serving and diagnosed with gender dysphoria were required to serve in their birth sex and were not allowed to take hormones or undergo transitional surgery.
As of 2019, an estimated 14,700 troops on active duty and in the reservations identify as transgender, but not all of them seek treatment. As of July 2016, gender dysphoria has been diagnosed in more than 1,500 service employees; on February 1, 2019, there were currently 1,071 in service. According to the Pentagon, the department spent about $ 8 million on transgender health care between 2016 and 2019. The military’s annual health care budget is $ 50 billion.
All four chiefs of service told Congress in 2018 that they had seen no problems with discipline, morale, or readiness of units with transgender troops serving openly in the military. But they also recognized that some commanders spent a lot of time with transgender people working on medical requirements and other transitional issues.
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Aamer Madhani, Associated Press author, contributed to this report.