Trump rescinds Biden’s order allowing transgender people to serve in the military, removing transgender people from the military
President Donald Trump has reversed a Biden-era order allowing transgender people to serve in the military.
After being sworn in on Monday, the new president signed an order rescinding an order signed by former President Joe Biden in 2021 to “enable all qualified Americans to serve their country in uniform.”
On the campaign trail, Trump promised to reinstate the ban on transgender troops that he implemented during his first term. In his inaugural speech, he said he would officially recognize only two genders: male and female.
There are an estimated 9,000 to 14,000 transgender service members.
The new executive order is part of a rapid series of moves by Trump to undo Biden’s policies. The White House said in a statement that the federal government’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives “corrode government by replacing hard work, merit and equality with divisive and dangerous hierarchies of preference.”
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President Donald Trump has reversed a Biden-era order allowing transgender people to serve in the military. (Greg Nash/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
The move is part of a campaign by Trump and his defense secretary nominee Pete Hegers to eliminate any DEI practices in the U.S. military.
Last week, Trump named Matthew Lomell as the next undersecretary of the Air Force. In 2021, Space Force Lt. Col. Lohmeier was fired for criticizing the military’s diversity plans and alleging “Marxism” within its ranks.
Lohmeyer self-published the book “Irresistible Revolution: Marxism’s Conquering Goals and the Destruction of the American Military” and appeared on a podcast claiming that Marxism, diversity efforts and critical race theory were weakening the military.
President Donald Trump pledged on the campaign trail to reinstate a ban on transgender troops he implemented during his first term. (Photo by Hedil Amir/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, praised the move, which “has restored our military’s focus on lethality by ending the WAKE DEI program.”
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Monday’s action is part of a broader Republican crackdown on transgenderism within the military. Republican lawmakers successfully inserted an amendment into their 2025 defense policy bill that would ban irreversible transgender care of minors in the military medical system.
The move is part of a campaign by President Donald Trump and his defense secretary nominee Pete Hegers to eliminate any DEI practices in the U.S. military. (Associated Press)
An order requiring the federal government to recognize only two genders bans the use of taxpayer money for “transgender services” following reports that some prisoners are receiving government-funded transgender care. In some states, Medicaid currently covers this type of treatment.
Additionally, under the order, federal prisons and asylums for immigrants and rape victims would be segregated by biological sex. It would prevent government agencies and workplaces from requiring transgender people to use pronouns that match their gender. Trump’s team said the demands violated First Amendment freedoms of speech and religion.
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The order does not mandate nationwide which bathrooms transgender people can use or which sports they can compete in, although many states have already passed laws in these areas.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
