WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden has signed an executive order revoking a Trump-era ban on gender-nonconforming persons of either sex who identify as transgender serving openly in the military, NBC News reported.
The reversal fulfills a campaign promise for President Biden, who had previously said he would revoke the ban on “day one.”
The new policy will allow gender-nonconforming personnel of either sex who identify as transgender to live with those of the biological sex that they feel most closely reflects their “gender identity.”
Moreover, this policy is inclusive of housing, physical training, and additional sex-segregated facilities.
“This is an invitation for trouble,” said one military veteran who did not want to be identified. “It will cause chaos and compromise when the armed forces need to be combat ready. The military is no place for ‘social experiments.’ Liberals seem to evoke ‘science’ except when it comes to biology. In that instance they are the biggest science deniers.”
Biden’s 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.” Gender identity is best understood as the condition of being gender-nonconforming and identifying with the stereotypical qualities associated with the opposite sex, The Post Millennial reported.
The Trump administration banned gender-nonconforming persons who identify as transgender from serving in the military in 2017. In part, the pharmaceutical medical treatment and requested sex-reassignment surgeries were believed by the Trump administration to be a hinderance to the maintenance of military readiness.
Biden’s order also dictated that the military should correct the records of transgender personnel who were affected by Trump’s ban, PM reported.
The move comes as part of a series of executive orders which the Biden administration has implemented since the President entered office on Jan 20, most of which were designed to undo Trump-era policies.
