Joe Biden on Monday reversed a Pentagon policy that largely barred transgender individuals from joining the US military, dumping a ban ordered by Donald Trump in a tweet during his first year in office.
The American Civil Liberties Union greeted the move as “an incredible victory” in the fight for transgender rights.
Biden had been widely expected to overturn the Trump policy in his early days in office.
In a statement, the White House 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.
“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’s the right thing to do and is in
our national interest.” The move has the support of Biden’s newly confirmed defense secretary, retired army Gen Lloyd Austin, who discussed it in his Senate hearing last week.
“If you’re fit and you’re qualified to serve and you can maintain the standards,” Austin said, “you should be allowed to serve”.
Biden was scheduled to hold a ceremonial swearing-in ceremony on Monday for Austin, who became the nation’s first Black defense secretary.
Ahead of last week’s inauguration, a memo from Ron Klain, now White House chief of staff, sketched out a plan to use Biden’s first full week as president “to advance equity and support communities of color and other underserved communities”.
The move was welcomed by campaigners for equal rights.
“A grateful nation salutes all who have served and hoped for this moment,” said the Human Rights Campaign, adding: “For years, transgender patriots were forced to continue to hide their identity while serving in our military. But today, thanks to President Joe Biden, Secretary Lloyd Austin, and pro-equality voters across America, they may live and serve openly as themselves.”
The ACLU hailed “an incredible victory for our clients and sends a message that transgender people not only belong in our armed services, but in our country”.
The move to overturn the transgender ban is the latest example of Biden using executive authority to dismantle Trump’s legacy. Other early actions include orders to overturn a ban on travelers from several predominantly Muslim countries, stop construction of the wall at the US-Mexico border, and launch an initiative to advance racial equity.
It was unclear how quickly the Pentagon will put a new policy in effect. Until a few years ago service members could be discharged for being transgender, but in 2016 defense secretary Ash Carter announced that transgender people already serving would be allowed to do so openly. The military set 1 July 2017 as the date when transgender individuals would be allowed to enlist.
The Trump administration delayed the enlistment date and called for additional study to determine if allowing transgender individuals to serve would affect military readiness or effectiveness.
A few weeks later, Trump caught military leaders by surprise, tweeting that the government wouldn’t accept or allow transgender individuals to serve “in any capacity”.
“Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail,” he wrote.
It took nearly two years, but after a lengthy and complicated legal battle and additional reviews the defense department in April 2019 approved the new policy that fell short of an all-out ban but barred troops and military recruits from transitioning to another sex and required most to serve in their birth gender.
As of 2019, an estimated 14,700 troops on active duty and in the reserves identify as transgender, but not all seek treatment. Since July 2016, more than 1,500 service members were diagnosed with gender dysphoria. As of 1 February 2019, there were 1,071 serving. According to the Pentagon, the department spent about $8m on transgender care between 2016 and 2019. The military’s annual healthcare budget tops $50bn.
All four service chiefs told Congress in 2018 they had seen no discipline, morale or unit readiness problems with transgender troops. But they also acknowledged that some commanders were spending a lot of time with transgender individuals who were working through medical requirements and other transition issues.
