Acclaim for Biden’s Repeal of the Transgender Military Ban
Speaker Pelosi, HRC, the Task Force, the Victory Fund are a few who are celebrating the executive order.
45SHARES
President Joseph R. Biden Photo: Gage Skidmore
Biden’s order repeals Trump’s ban and also contains a provision that military records should be corrected if qualified service members were discharged or prohibited from re-enlisting due to their gender identity.
Numerous LGBTQ organizations and allies issued statements celebrating the reversal, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the Human Rights Campaign, and the National Lesbian and Gay Task Force:
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi
President Biden repeals Trump’s ban on transgender service members
Advocates say Biden s executive order recognizes trans service members as an integral part of the U.S. military
40SHARES
President Joe Biden Photo: Gage Skidmore / Flickr
In a long-awaited move for members of the LGBTQ military community, President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Monday that repeals the Trump administration’s prohibition on transgender Americans serving openly in the military.
Under the Trump ban, the military could refuse to admit openly transgender recruits, and could move to discharge certain non-exempt service members (largely those who had not yet transitioned) if they attempted to receive medical care for or were diagnosed with gender dysphoria. The ban was estimated to affect up to 15,000 service members, according to the Transgender American Veterans Association.
President Joe Biden signed a wide-ranging executive order to extend anti-discrimination protections in federal agencies to LGBTQ people shortly after his inauguration January 20.
The order applies the United States Supreme Court s 6-3 decision in Bostock v. Clayton County last year to the federal government, so that where statutes such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ban discrimination on the basis of sex, executive agencies interpret that to also include sexual orientation and gender identity. Discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation manifests differently for different individuals, and it often overlaps with other forms of prohibited discrimination, including discrimination on the basis of race or disability. For example, transgender Black Americans face unconscionably high levels of workplace discrimination, homelessness, and violence, including fatal violence, Biden s order states. It is the policy of my administration to prevent a
In stirring speech, Pete Buttigieg makes history again for LGBTQ Americans as first gay cabinet nominee Marc Ramirez, USA TODAY UP NEXT
Nearly a year ago in Des Moines, Pete Buttigieg hugged his husband onstage after his win in the Iowa caucuses made him the first openly LGBTQ candidate to earn delegates toward a major political party’s presidential nomination.
Now, he’s making history again as the first openly gay man to be nominated to a Cabinet role, with President-elect Joe Biden tapping Buttigieg this week as his pick for U.S. Transportation secretary.
As Buttigieg accepted the nomination Wednesday afternoon, he recalled how as a 17 year old in Indiana, he watched the experience of James Hormel, who President Bill Clinton nominated as ambassador to Luxembourg in 1998 an appointment Senate Republicans balked at for two years in protest.