President Donald Trump is expected to sign three executive orders to reshape the military on Monday. One EO will ban transgender service troops in the US armed forces. Another will eliminate the military’s diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. A third will reinstate service members with back pay who were discharged for refusing to get vaccinated from COVID-19.
Trump banned transgender Americans in 2017 during his first administration. In 2021, Biden issued an order to repeal the ban. He then went whole hog on DEI.
President Trump’s order is expected to outline new military standards regarding gender pronouns and state that mental and physical readiness requires transgender service members be banned from the military.
The new EO is expected to outline physical and mental standards to be in the military. Pronouns will also be addressed.
“It can take a minimum of 12 months for an individual to complete treatments after transition surgery, which often involves the use of heavy narcotics. During this period, they are not physically capable of meeting military readiness requirements and require ongoing medical care. This is not conducive for deployment or other readiness requirements,” one of the officials said, a source said, citing a fact sheet.
“The implementation [of the ban] is on the DoD regarding specifics,” the official said. In 2018, there were an estimated 14,000 transgender service members in the US military, according to the Palm Center, an independent research institute that has conducted extensive research on sexual minorities in the military.
A second EO states that any “discriminatory” policies related to DEI in the military will be banned. The order comes after the Trump administration ordered employees in any federal diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility offices be placed on leave.
The third EO restores all military who rejected the jab with full back pay and benefits. They would keep their rank.
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