President Joseph Biden, Jr. lifted former President Donald Trump's ban on transgender soldiers in the U.S. Military through an Executive Order signed on Monday, Jan. 25, 2021.
Entitled "Executive Order On Enabling All Qualified Americans To Serve Their Country In Uniform," Biden revoked Trump's Presidential Memorandum of March 23, 2018 called Military Service by Transgender Individuals. The same EO continued to revoked a similar Presidential Memorandum that is dated August 25, 2017 called Military Service by Transgender Individuals. The said "presidential action" believes that an "inclusive military strengthens" the "national security."
"It is my conviction as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces that gender identity should not be a bar to military service. Moreover, there is substantial evidence that allowing transgender individuals to serve in the military does not have any meaningful negative impact on the Armed Forces," Biden explained in the said Executive Order.
He cited a comprehensive study conducted in 2016 spearheaded by the Department of Defense which "found that enabling transgender individuals to serve openly in the United States military would have only a minimal impact on military readiness and healthcare costs" and that "open transgender service has had no significant impact on operational effectiveness or unit cohesion in foreign militaries."
Biden went on to say that the information gathered by the Secretary of Defense concluded in 2016 that "permitting transgender individuals to serve openly in the military was consistent with military readiness and with strength through diversity, such that transgender service members who could meet the required standards and procedures should be permitted to serve openly" and that "it was appropriate to create a process that would enable service members to take steps to transition gender while serving."
"The previous administration chose to alter that policy to bar transgender persons, in almost all circumstances, from joining the Armed Forces and from being able to take steps to transition gender while serving," Biden stressed. "Rather than relying on the comprehensive study by a nonpartisan federally funded research center, the previous administration relied on a review that resulted in a policy that set unnecessary barriers to military service."
"Therefore, it shall be the policy of the United States to ensure that all transgender individuals who wish to serve in the United States military and can meet the appropriate standards shall be able to do so openly and free from discrimination," he added.
The Blaze reported that the presidential directive "doesn't come as a shock" since Biden did promise to do this during his campaign, stating that transgenders "can shoot as straight as anybody else can shoot."
In addition, the Blaze said, Biden's actions is just a matter of bringing back what he with then President Barack Obama had put in place citing that in 2017 "former President Donald Trump announced the ban, which reversed the Obama administration's order allowing transgender soldiers to serve in the military."
""Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgenders in the military would entail," The Blaze quoted Trump in saying in 2017.
The White House website published a supporting document to Biden's Executive order that enables transgenders to serve in the military to further provide details on the matter. The document entitled, "Fact Sheet: President Biden Signs Executive Order Enabling All Qualified Americans to Serve Their Country in Uniform", said that the executive order "directs the Secretary of Defense and Secretary of Homeland Security to implement this order."
It also "immediately Prohibits Involuntary Separations, Discharges, and Denials of Reenlistment or Continuation of Service on the Basis of Gender Identity or Under Circumstances Relating to Gender Identity". Lastly, it "requires an initial report from the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security be made to the President within 60 days on their progress in implementing the directives and policy included in today's Executive Order."
