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| President Biden on Jan. 25 signed an executive order lifting the ban on transgender people serving openly in the U.S. military. (Photo by=The Washington Post) |
[Asia News Communication = Reporter Reakkana] U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order to repeal a Trump-era ban on most transgender Americans joining the military on Monday alongside Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, CNN reported.
"This is reinstating a position that the previous commanders and, as well as the secretaries, have supported. And what I'm doing is enabling all qualified Americans to serve their country in uniform," Biden said, speaking from the Oval Office just before signing the executive order.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday that cases in which transgender service members were discharged from the military because of their gender identity would be reexamined."President Biden believes gender identity should not be a bar to military service and that America's strength is found in its diversity," Psaki said. "America is stronger around the world when it is inclusive."
President Donald Trump's ban has been rebuked by the Democrat-led House of Representatives and condemned by LGBTQ activists as discriminatory. Austin voiced his support for overturning the ban in his Senate confirmation hearing last week. Meanwhile, Biden had a meeting late Monday morning with Austin, Vice President Kamala Harris, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, according to the White House. Later on Monday, Harris ceremonially swore in Austin as Defense secretary in the Roosevelt Room at the White House.
