Soon after taking office Monday, President Donald Trump repealed a rule established by former President Joe Biden that allows transgender people to openly serve in the U.S. military.
The rule, implemented through an executive order in 2021, required the Pentagon and Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Coast Guard, to remove gender identity as a bar to service. At the time, Biden’s order reversed a ban on transgender service members that Trump ordered in 2017 during his first term.
“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,” Biden’s executive order reads.
That order was one of dozens rescinded by Trump in the early hours of his presidency.
The action does not have an immediate effect for transgender troops currently serving, said Adele Scheiber, communications director for the Modern Military Association of America, which advocates for LGBTQ service members. Trump has not instituted a new ban, but the repeal of Biden’s policy clears the way for one, Scheiber said in a video statement Tuesday.
“This paves the way for a new ban on military service, but as of today nothing has changed,” she said.
During a speech at the Turning Point Action Conference in December, Trump said he intended to sign an executive order to “get transgender out of the military.”
There are an estimated 9,000 to 14,000 transgender individuals serving in the armed forces, The Associated Press reported.
Nikki Wentling covers disinformation and extremism for Military Times. She’s reported on veterans and military communities for eight years and has also covered technology, politics, health care and crime. Her work has earned multiple honors from the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, the Arkansas Associated Press Managing Editors and others.
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