Donald Trump is planning to reintroduce his ban on transgender people serving in the US military “on day one”.
That could mean as many as 15,000 people being discharged immediately after Trump takes office on 20 January, and being labelled “unfit” for their roles.
Trump’s first transgender military ban was first imposed in 2019 before being overturned by president Joe Biden in 2021. It prevented transgender people serving in the military, a policy which was described as “harmful” and “backwards”.
Trump vowed to restore the legislation while campaigning for the presidency earlier this year. “I will ban the Department of Veterans Affairs from wasting a single cent to fund transgender surgeries or sex-change procedures,” he said.
“Those precious taxpayer dollars should be going to care for our veterans in need, not to refund radical gender experiments for the communist left. I’ll also restore the ban on transgender in the military… we had it banned.”
When the ban was overturned, long-serving staff sergeant Cathrine Schmid told PinkNews: “This is a significant and hopeful moment for our country.
“Over the past three years, we’ve fought to prove that transgender people are not a burden, a hindrance or a distraction. We are an equal and contributing part of this society just as much as any other group, and this development vindicates that basic principle.
“This isn’t simply about our place in the military or my place in my unit. It’s about our right to be treated as co-equal members of society. This harmful and backwards policy will now be put where it belongs: in a very short, shameful chapter of US military history.”
