President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Monday to lift a ban issued by President Donald Trump that prevented transgender persons from serving openly in the U.S. armed forces. The Trump administration ordered that all military members must follow standards associated with their birth gender and prohibited those who have received transitional therapies from joining the military.
Biden wrote in the order, which appeared in the Federal Register on Monday, to “immediately prohibits involuntary separations, discharges, and denials of re-enlistment or continuation of service on the basis of gender identity or under circumstances relating to gender identity. It is the policy of my administration to prevent and combat discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation, and to fully enforce Title VII and other laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation. It is also the policy of my administration to address overlapping forms of discrimination.”
The White House said Biden’s order states 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.”
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