
Soon after taking office Monday, President Donald Trump repealed a rule established by former President Joe Biden that allows transgender people to openly serve in the U.S. military, the Military Times reports.
He also ordered the reinstatement of 8000 personnel who were dismissed from the forces for refusing COVID vaccination.
And he fired U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Linda Lee Fagan, the first female uniformed leader of an armed forces branch. A Coast Guard source said it was because of her “excessive” focus on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policies.
The former transgender rule, implemented through an executive order in 2021, required the Pentagon and Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Coast Guard, to remove gender identity as a bar to service. At the time, Biden’s order reversed a ban on transgender service members that Trump ordered in 2017 during his first term.
There are an estimated 9,000 to 14,000 transgender individuals serving in the armed forces.