Executive Action Ends Trump’s Ban on Trans Troops
In fi rst week, president follows through on promise to unravel discriminatory policy
BY TAT BELLAMY-WALKER
President Joe Biden signed an executive
order on January 25 reversing
former President Donald Trump’s ban
on transgender troops.
“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
White House said in a written statement. “Allowing
all qualifi ed Americans to serve their country
in uniform is better for the military and better
for the country because an inclusive force is
a more effective force. Simply put, it’s the right
thing to do and is in our national interest.”
The move comes nearly four years after then-
President Donald Trump fi rst announced the
discriminatory policy on Twitter in July 2017.
Trump falsely claimed that trans people were
unfi t to serve openly because of high transitionrelated
healthcare costs, and the ban went into
effect in April of 2019. The military under the
Trump administration insisted that the ban on
trans troops did not represent a blanket ban
on all transgender service members since some
folks were exempt from the policy, but that notion
was widely rejected because trans troops
with gender dysphoria would have been disqualifi
ed unless they were already serving in
accordance with the gender assigned to them
at birth. Regardless of how the Trump administration
tried to qualify the ban, it was a ban.
There are an estimated 15,000 trans service
members in the military, according to National
Center for Transgender Equality and Transgender
American Veterans Association. Gay City
News reported on how service members were
dragged through a wildly chaotic policy rollout
when the Trump administration sought to put
the transgender ban into action. Gay City News
contacted different branches of the military
in the aftermath of the ban’s implementation
and received a wide range of responses about
how each branch applied the directive. Some
branches were withholding details about how
many service members were discharged, while
others denied that any discharges took place.
In interviews spokespersons representing different
branches even stated that discharges of
transgender service members were not being
tracked at all.
Biden’s executive order drew praise from
Emma Shinn, a captain in the Marine Corps
who serves as president of SPART*A, which is
a group of transgender service members and
veterans.
“President Biden’s restoration of open service
recognizes transgender service members
as an integral part of our military and closes a
POLITICS
U.S. Navy Admiral Harry Harris, Commander of the US Pacifi c Command, speaks in front of US Marines in 2017.
dark chapter of history,” Shinn said in a written
statement. “I am elated that the approximately
15,000 transgender service members proudly
serving across the globe can rest easier knowing
that their service to our nation is seen, valued
and that they can continue to serve as their
authentic selves.”
Shawn Skelly, a transgender woman who
served in the US Navy from 1988 to 2008, said
lifting the ban opens up possibilities for trans
service members. Plus, she noted that this legislation
shows that trans people are “equally
capable” to serve alongside their cisgender colleagues.
“Service members have the opportunity to
stay and be their true authentic selves,” said
Skelly, who served during the “Don’t Ask, Don’t
Tell” era, and left service early to start her gender
transition. “Serving as less than I knew myself
to be was a strain and distraction. ”
Kristen L. Rouse, an out lesbian US Army
Veteran and founder of the New York City Veterans
Alliance, also commended the new administration
for nixing Trump’s anti-trans policy.
“Our military is harmed by hate and extremism,
not differences in gender expression or
gender identity. Today we celebrate the fi nal end
to the atrocious ban on transgender service,”
Rouse said. “Like “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” before
it, this policy placed a heavy, painful, and undue
burden on transgender servicemembers
and veterans who have shown time and time
again their fi tness for duty, their selfl essness
and patriotism, and their substantial contributions
to the defense of this nation.”
Lambda Legal and Modern Military Association
of America (MMAA), which challenged the
ban in court, expressed relief that the Biden administration
nixed the policy.
REUTERS/JASON REED
“We look forward to turning the page on this
dark chapter of our history and returning to the
day when transgender people can once again
serve their country openly, proudly, and equally,”
Lambda Legal CEO Kevin Jennings said in
a written statement. This ban was a low-water
mark for our country, which defi ed the military’s
own judgment permitting open service,
and its reversal marks a recommitment to our
country’s most basic promise of equality for
all.”
Some out trans veterans, however, made it
clear that these policies are far too often dependent
on which party is in the White House — and
the toll that takes on transgender Americans.
“While I am grateful that President Biden
has chosen to reverse the trans ban and that
my trans siblings can serve openly, I am concerned
at the way the policy has been swinging
from left to right multiple times within a
very short time period,” Camden Ador, a Navy
veteran from Queens, told Gay City News. “Not
only does this call into question certain facets
of our democratic process, but it also puts unnecessary
fear, anxiety, and emotional warfare
on the transgender community. We are not a
talking point for any politicians campaign, and
the way this divisive issue has been publicized
over the past 5 or 6 years leaving the transgender
community, especially those who are
actively serving or have the desire to serve, in
a constant state of limbo, a constant state of
fi ght mode, this is not a way for anyone to live.
So I say, if Biden is serious about this executive
order and this proclamation of equality for
transgender people, then he must make this
law bulletproof.
GayCityNews.com | JANUARY 28 - FEBRUARY 10, 2021 5
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