Transgender advocates 'beyond thrilled' over Biden's reversal of Trump military ban

Source:-Newzee


LGBTQ advocates hailed the beginning of a new era after President Joe Biden on Monday (January 25) signed an executive order that overturned a controversial ban by his predecessor on transgender individuals serving in the U.S. military.

"We are so excited for the opportunity that's being granted to the people who are currently serving in silence and for all the folks that want to join," said Lieutenant Colonel Bree Fram of SPART*A, a transgender military advocacy organization.

"I am beyond thrilled," added Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD. "We knew from the onset that the ban flew in the face of what military leaders and what the general public - Americans - wanted."

Former Democratic President Barack Obama in 2016 allowed trans people to serve openly and receive medical care to transition genders, but Republican President Donald Trump froze their recruitment while allowing serving personnel to remain.

When Trump announced the ban in 2017 on Twitter, he said the military needed to focus on "decisive and overwhelming victory" without being burdened by the "tremendous medical costs and disruption" of having transgender personnel.

A November 2020 report by the LGBT-rights think tank the Palm Center co-written by former military Surgeons General said the transgender ban had hurt military readiness.

But Fram, who is currently an active duty astronautical engineer in the U.S. Air Force, said the struggle for transgender individuals to serve may not be over.

"We'd very much like to get it to the point where it's not like flipping a switch from one administration to the other," she said. "We would love to see the opportunity to serve enshrined in law."

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Trump transgender policy of 2019 could stand while it faces separate lawsuits in lower courts.

Ellis said Biden's executive order signaled a shift for the LGBTQ community, saying that living under the Trump administration had been a "living nightmare."

"It is quite a relief to have an administration that understands who we are and values us as American citizens," she said.

About 1.3 million active personnel serve in the U.S. military, Department of Defense data shows. There are no official figures on the number of trans members but the Rand Corp, a U.S. policy research institute, estimated in 2016 about 2,450 active service members were transgender.
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