President Joe Biden signed an executive order Monday morning overturning the Trump-era ban on openly transgender Americans serving in the military.
The executive order “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,” according to a White House statement to NBC News.
“President Biden believes that gender identity should not be a bar to military service, and that America’s strength is found in its diversity,” the statement reads.
It will also amend the records of trans service members who were discharged, denied reenlistment, or continued service on the basis of their gender identity, Axios reports.
The end of the ban marks the first of what’s expected to be many LGBTQ protections issued under the Biden-Harris administration, and follows the nomination of Dr. Rachel Levine as assistant secretary of health, who would be the first openly transgender federal official if confirmed by the Senate.
The Trump administration’s policy barred any transgender American from serving openly in the country’s armed forces. It allowed service members who had already transitioned to retain their positions, but forced new recruits to serve as their gender assigned at birth. The Department of Defense claimed that service members with gender dysphoria diagnoses “could adversely impact unit readiness and combat effectiveness” and thus were “presumptively disqualified for service without a waiver.”
Former president Donald Trump first announced the discriminatory federal policy in 2017, in a tweet posted on July 26 that read, “After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow… Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military.” The announcement was followed by an official memorandum in August. Non-partisan research group the Palm Center called the policy an “insidious in operation but designed to be as comprehensive a ban as possible,” NBC reported in 2019. It reversed a 2016 Obama administration mandate that lifted the previous ban on transgender service members.
In Oct. 2017, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders and the National Center for Lesbian Rights filed one of four federal lawsuits arguing that the federal ban discriminated against trans Americans and violated Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. In Jan. 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to enact the ban temporarily as lower courts heard the cases, and by April 2019 the ban officially went into effect following amended guidelines from the Department of Defense.
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Nic Talbott, a plaintiff in the Stockman v. Trump case challenging the Trump policy, said Biden’s announcement is a huge sigh of relief for transgender people across the country. “It will finally allow any transgender person to serve in the U.S. military as their complete authentic selves,” Talbott said.
Talbott was removed from the ROTC program at Kent State in 2019, derailing his career prospects for almost two years as he fought for equitable treatment. “This ban has caused me to put my entire life on hold for years and years now, and I’m really ready and excited to be able to finally move forward and start my adult life and my career,” Talbot said. He plans to reenroll in Kent State’s ROTC program as he finishes his Master’s degree and applies to PhD programs.
The order came shortly after the administration’s new Defense Secretary, Lloyd Austin, was formally sworn into office. Austin supported the decision during his Senate confirmation hearing last week.
LGBTQ rights advocates quickly responded to the news. In a press release issued shortly after, Amit Paley, CEO and executive director of The Trevor Project, a national suicide prevention organization, said the group hopes the reversal “sends a clear message to transgender and nonbinary youth everywhere that they should be proud of who they are, that they are deserving of our country’s respect, and that they have the right to serve with honor.”
CEO of national legal advocacy group Lambda Legal, Ken Jennings called the ban “a dark chapter” in the nation’s history in a press release issued shortly after the ban’s reversal. “This discriminatory ban cheapened the bravery and patriotism of transgender service members and transgender people seeking to serve. We are grateful to see President Biden take action to relegate it to the trash bin of history, where it belongs,” Jennings said.
BREAKING: President Biden has ended the ban on transgender military service set in place under the Trump administration.
A grateful nation salutes all who have served and hoped for this moment.
— Human Rights Campaign (@HRC) January 25, 2021
Shannon Minter is the legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights and co-counsel in the Stockman v. Trump case. According to Minter, Biden’s announcement effectively eliminates the ban and can reverse current policy back to its pre-Trump status. “This is about as simple a process as one could imagine,” Minter said. “It’s just a matter of crossing out the ban and making clear that the open service policy is back to applying to every single person in the military.” The decision also means there “will be no need for the lawsuits to continue,” both Minter and Talbott said.
Beyond its effect on military careers for trans Americans, Talbott says the ban’s reversal could have an even bigger impact on trans communities in all spaces. “Any kind of high profile, transgender-related issue affects the transgender community as a whole. And one of the most destructive messages this ban has given is the incorrect message that transgender people are somehow not as equal as everybody else or lesser than everybody else,” Talbott reflected.
Minter said the policy had been a lingering source of anxiety and fear for transgender Americans. “It was just a horrific blow. It was unexpected, terrifying, for our service members, but also just for the whole transgender community,” Minter said.
Moving forward, President Biden’s decision means there’s hope for expanded healthcare, employment, and education protections for transgender Americans, according to both Minter and Talbott. “I’m really hoping that by ending the ban, we can take a step in the right direction and start to truly gain equality for trans people and the rest of the LGBTQ+ community as a whole,” Talbott said.