President Biden has signed an executive order that allows transgender people to serve in the Armed Forces of the United States.
While the former president partially banned trans people from the Army back in 2017, the country’s 46th president overturned the decision by signing an executive order dictating that “all Americans who are qualified to serve in the Armed Forces of the United States should be able to serve.”
In addition, the executive order points out that “transgender service members will no longer be subject to the possibility of discharge or separation on the basis of gender identity.”
Before signing the order, which has been deemed controversial by its critics, in the Oval Office, Biden doubled down on his calls for equality.
“This is reinstating a position that previous commanders as well as the secretaries have supported and what I’m doing is letting all qualified Americans to serve the country in uniform,” the president said.
He added: “Transgender personnel, if qualified in every other way, can serve their government in the United States military.”
The executive order was signed on Monday, the same day Biden met with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin who was sworn-in after the signing of the order.
According to the reports, the new Defense Secretary is the first African-American to be sworn in as Pentagon’s highest-ranking official.
Defending the decision to allow transgender people to serve in the Army, the White House released the following statement:
“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 partial ban on trans servicemen and servicewomen was introduced by Trump back in 2017.
The ban blocked the recruitment of individuals diagnosed with gender dysphoria. While the ban allowed individuals without the condition to serve, they were required to do so in accordance with the gender they were assigned at birth.
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Replaced!