U.S : Joe Biden lifting Trump's Transgender Military Ban

President Biden on Monday nullified former President Trump’s embargo on all transgender people serving in the military, Servicemen will be able to serve in their gender identity when they complete their transition and their gender has officially been changed in the Defense Department’s personnel system.

The president signed an executive order that “sets the policy that all Americans who are qualified to serve in the Armed Forces of the United States should be able to serve,” according to a fact sheet released ahead of newly minted Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's meeting with the president at the White House.

“What I’m doing is enabling all qualified Americans to serve their country in uniform and essentially restoring the situation … where transgender personnel, if qualified in every other way, can serve their government in the United States military,” Biden said before he signed the order.

He was joined in the Oval Office by Austin, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley and Vice President Kamala Harris.

“This is the right thing to do,” Austin said in a written statement after the order was signed. “It is also the smart thing to do.”

The order revokes Trump’s 2017 and 2018 orders banning transgender military service and directs the Pentagon and Department of Homeland Security, under which the Coast Guard falls, to ensure all policies are consistent with Biden’s order.  It also immediately bans involuntary separations, discharges and denials of reenlistment based on gender identity.

The new order also mandates the Pentagon to review records of service members who were discharged or denied reenlistment under the ban. The policy will also ensure all medically necessary transition-related care is available to service members. 

The Pentagon will “immediately take appropriate policy action to ensure individuals who identify as transgender are eligible to enter and serve in their self-identified gender,” Austin said. Recruits will be able to serve in their gender identity when they meet all applicable accession standards, he added.

“The United States Armed Forces are in the business of defending our fellow citizens from our enemies, foreign and domestic,” Austin said. “I believe we accomplish that mission more effectively when we represent all our fellow citizens. I also believe we should avail ourselves of the best possible talent in our population, regardless of gender identity. We would be rendering ourselves less fit to the task if we excluded from our ranks people who meet our standards and who have the skills and the devotion to serve in uniform.”

Biden’s order directs the Pentagon and Department of Homeland Security to update him in 60 days on their progress in implementing open service policies.

“Over the next 60 days, I look forward to working with the senior civilian and military leaders of the department as we expeditiously develop the appropriate policies and procedures to implement these changes,” Austin said in his statement.

Biden pledged during his presidential campaign to lift Trump’s ban, referring to it as a “Day One” priority. But it was not among the batch of executive orders Biden signed hours after his inauguration last Wednesday amid a delay in Austin’s confirmation. With Austin's confirmation Friday, Biden was expected to act as soon as Monday.

According to Pentagon data, about 1,500 troops since 2016 have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, the medical term for distress that occurs when someone’s gender identity differs from the sex assigned at birth.

About 14,700 troops on active duty and in the reserves identify as transgender.