After 30 months of serving openly, Trump blindsided his Generals and shocked the nation by instating a ban on transgender military service with a midnight tweet. Now two years later almost to the Day, President Biden signed an order aligning national policy with federal law so trans people can serve with pride and dignity.
(CNN) President Joe Biden signed an executive order to repeal a Trump-era ban on most transgender Americans joining the military on Monday alongside Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
“This is reinstating a position that the previous commanders and, as well as the secretaries, have supported. And what I’m doing is enabling all qualified Americans to serve their country in uniform,” Biden said, speaking from the Oval Office just before signing the executive order.
President Donald Trump’s ban has been rebuked by the Democrat-led House of Representatives and condemned by LGBTQ activists as discriminatory. Austin voiced his support for overturning the ban in his Senate confirmation hearing last week.
“President Biden believes that gender identity should not be a bar to military service, and that America’s strength is found in its diversity,” a fact sheet provided by the White House on the executive order reads.
President Biden signs executive order repealing Trump-era ban on transgender people serving openly in the military:
“Transgender personnel, if qualified in every other way, can serve their government in the United States military.”
Story: https://t.co/0iUvl1Tc3l pic.twitter.com/p9kwrYmQwj
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) January 25, 2021
Our Armed Forces are at their best when they represent the talents of our entire population, regardless of gender identity. I fully support @POTUS‘s direction today that all transgender individuals who wish to serve and can meet the appropriate standards shall be able to do so. pic.twitter.com/3oBNgsOjGl
— Secretary of Defense Austin (@SecDef) January 25, 2021
Today, I repealed the discriminatory ban on transgender people serving in the military. It’s simple: America is safer when everyone qualified to serve can do so openly and with pride.
— President Biden (@POTUS) January 25, 2021
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