A step forward
Biden’s repeal of transgender military ban sends a strong message that must continue.
Listen to President Joe Biden’s words as he reversed a policy by his predecessor that effectively barred transgender troops from the military: “What I’m doing is enabling all qualified Americans to serve their country in uniform.”
It’s that simple. Biden’s executive order doesn’t give special privileges to transgender people or take anything away from other service members. It ensures equal treatment for anyone willing to put their life on the line for our nation.
It’s shameful that that right was ever infringed or in doubt.
As with so many of the previous administration’s policies, this one was spurred by a Twitter tirade that singled out transgender people in the military as disruptive — without an ounce of proof.
By the time the military transformed President Donald Trump’s July 2017 tweets — which had announced an outright ban on transgender men and women “serving in any capacity” — into policy in 2019, the rules barred only the enlistment of transgender people who planned to have gender-affirming hormones or surgery. Those already serving openly were allowed to remain, but service members who came out as trans were required to serve in the gender assigned at birth.
The policy was never a priority of the American people.
The majority of Americans — 71 percent — disagreed with the ban, according to a Gallup poll conducted the summer after it took effect. Even Trump’s pick as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who defended the policy during his confirmation hearings later in 2019, conceded that flatly categorizing transgender service members as problematic was wrong. “I do not believe there is anything inherent in anyone’s identity to prevent them from serving in the military,” Gen. Mark A. Milley said at his confirmation hearing: “It’s about standards, not an identity.”
A study from the Palm Center, led by former top medical officers in the Army, Navy and Coast Guard, found that the ban undermined military readiness by reducing the dwindling recruitment pool, lowering morale of transgender troops and harming the reputation of the military by casting it as “unwelcoming and intolerant.”
The ban inflicted pain not only on the more than 15,000 openly transgender troops and those afraid to come out, but on potential recruits who were discouraged from enlisting and on the greater transgender community, already marginalized in daily life.
“People either had to hide or deny who they are or, if they came out, be discharged,” said Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights and one of the attorneys who challenged the ban. “That takes a toll on people. It's brutal.”
It wasn’t Trump’s only policy targeting the transgender community. His administration also ended protection for transgender people in health care, federal employment, federal prisons and homeless shelters and revoked Obamaera guidance protecting transgender students in public schools.
Transgender people, especially transgender women of color, already face discrimination, harassment and violence simply for being who they are. Last year, at least 37 transgender and gender non-conforming people were killed — the most since Human Rights Watch began tracking in 2013. The FBI’s annual crime report showed that hate crime incidents motivated by gender identity rose 20 percent in 2019.
By rescinding the ban, Biden sends a strong message, a show of support that began when he became the first president-elect to mention transgender Americans in his victory speech.
His first day in office, Biden signed an executive order directing the federal government not to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. He has also nominated Rachel Levine, Pennsylvania’s top health official, as his assistant secretary of health. She would become the first openly transgender federal official confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
As his presidency takes root, Biden must continue to restore the protections for transgender people. He must follow through on campaign pledges to the LGBTQ community, including ensuring the passage of the Equality Act, which would add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the classes protected by the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Such actions will let all Americans know that transgender individuals are part of our country’s fabric and are entitled to equal protection under the law. They should be accepted, not shunned. They should be free to live their lives, and free if they so choose to put their lives on the line in service to this nation.
When it comes to patriotic sacrifice, the only identity that should matter is the American identity.