Donald Trump has signed an executive order banning trans people from serving in the military.
In the order, Trump claimed that “the Armed Forces have been afflicted with radical gender ideology,” and claimed that trans people are both “medically and morally unfit to serve.”
It is estimated that there are around 15,000 trans people in the US military.
“Beyond the hormonal and surgical medical interventions involved, adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual’s sex conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honourable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life,” his order reads. “A man’s assertion that he is a woman, and his requirement that others honour this falsehood, is not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member.”
The order noted: “Many mental and physical health conditions are incompatible with active duty, from conditions that require substantial medication or medical treatment to bipolar and related disorders, eating disorders, suicidality, and prior psychiatric hospitalisation.”
Transgender military members are not immediately banned from serving but rather the Defence Department and the Department of Homeland Security are both required to issue reports on how the various branches will interpret and adopt the new policy.
Lambda Legal and Human Rights Campaign, LGBTQ+ advocacy groups, said in a statement that they plan to sue.
“We have been here before and seven years ago were able to successfully block the earlier administration’s effort to prevent patriotic, talented Americans from serving their country,” Lambda Legal Counsel Sasha Buchert said.
“Not only is such a move cruel, it compromises the safety and security of our country and is particularly dangerous and wrong. As we promised then, so do we now: we will sue.”
