It is rumored that today Biden will lift the ban…
Biden to lift Pentagon's ban on transgender people serving in militaryThe Military Times had this to say,
Trump put the ban in place that did not allow transgender people to serve.
ABC News
By Luis Martinez
January 24, 2021
Multiple people familiar with the matter confirm to ABC News that President Joe Biden is expected to sign an executive order on Monday that will lift the Pentagon’s ban on transgender people serving in the military.
The controversial ban was announced by former President Donald Trump in 2017 through a tweet and reversed the Obama administration’s policy to allow open service by transgender people.
New Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will be on hand at the White House ceremony on Monday, where the executive order will be signed, said the individuals familiar with the matter.
Aaron Belkin, a political science professor at San Francisco State University and director of the Palm Center, a public policy think tank that focuses on LGBT issues, said the fact that Biden did not have a confirmed defense secretary on his first day in office likely contributed to the absence of an announcement.The only problem that I see is that unless the Equality Act is passed the next president could reverse Biden’s Executive Order like Trump did with Obama’s EO and Biden did with Trump’s EO.
"I believe [Biden] was sincere and had every intention of [repealing the transgender ban] on Day One," Belkin said. "All the signals are pointing in the same direction, which is as soon as we have a secretary of defense, the military will move forward with an inclusive policy."
Biden's nominee for defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, said Tuesday in his confirmation hearing that he supports the president's plan to overturn the ban.
"I truly believe ... that if you're fit and you're qualified to serve and you can maintain the standards, you should be allowed to serve," Austin told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
When I wrote this at 6:00 AM, the Executive Order has not been issued.
Update 11:50 AM
The president has signed the order...
Biden campaigned on undoing the controversial policy that Trump enacted via Twitter.NBC NewsBy Geoff Bennett and Adam Edelman10 AMWASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Monday signed an executive order repealing the ban on transgender people serving openly in the military, a ban that former President Donald Trump had put in effect, the White House said.In a statement, the White House said Biden's order "sets the policy that all Americans who are qualified to serve in the Armed Forces of the United States should be able to serve.""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.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," the White House saidThe order also directs the immediate "correction of" military records for any who had been affected by Trump's ban.
"The only problem that I see is that unless the Equality Act is passed the next president could reverse Biden’s Executive Order like Trump did with Obama’s EO and Biden did with Trump’s EO."
ReplyDeleteYes around and around we go. In one year out the next. A law is a law on the books one day and off the next. Make hay while the sun shines. This is a big failure of the system in amerikkka. Most of these Eo and laws are not worth the paper that they are printed on. It is a falsehood. Keeps folks thinking that the master is wonderful and are satisficed with the crumbs shaken off his table cloth. I have to agree and always have with many of our LGBTQ scholars that this fight the fight of the right to be in the military is not mine. This fight to uphold this dirty rotten system and go all around the world to kill is not mine, this fight to join with one of the most repressive institutions in the country must be abolished not strengthened.