Repealing Former US President Donald Trump’s July 2017 decision to bar transgender personnel from serving in any capacity in the United States military, the Biden White House has said ‘all Americans’ qualified to serve should do so. The White House on Monday issued a statement saying that President Joe Biden has issued a new policy and no eligible transgender citizen will be deprived of the honour of serving the military. 

“Discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation manifests differently for different individuals, and it often overlaps with other forms of prohibited discrimination, including discrimination on the basis of race or disability. For example, transgender Black Americans face unconscionably high levels of workplace discrimination, homelessness, and violence, including fatal violence,” the White House notice says.

It further adds that it is the responsibility of the administration to ensure no citizen falls a victim to discrimination. 

“It is the policy of my Administration to prevent and combat discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation, and to fully enforce Title VII and other laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation. It is also the policy of my Administration to address overlapping forms of discrimination.”

In simple terms the decision by Joe Biden will see “transgender servicemembers no longer be subject to the possibility of discharge or separation on the basis of gender identity,” the White House statement read.

A move that was criticised all around the globe, Donald Trump had undone his predecessor President Barack Obama’s work of implementing a policy for the military, to start accepting transgender recruits. 

“Today, I repealed the discriminatory ban on transgender people serving in the military. It’s simple: America is safer when everyone qualified to serve can do so openly and with pride,” Joe Biden said in a statement posted on social media. 

Trump had claimed the Obama-era policy was disruptive, expensive and said it eroded military readiness and camaraderie among troops.