US President-elect Donald Trump has added to the growing fears of the LGBTQIA+ community in the US as he is reportedly planning an executive order that would lead to the removal of all transgender members from the US military.
According to officials, the transgenders would be medically discharged, which means they would be “unfit” to serve, The Sunday Times reported.
The 78-year-old leader had imposed a similar order during his first term as the US President – he had prevented transgender people from joining the armed forces but allowed those who were already serving their jobs. However, according to the report, this time, all those transgenders who are currently serving would also be removed.
The executive order would reportedly come on his first day back as the President on January 20, next year.
There are reportedly around 15,000 transgenders actively serving in the US military presently. When President Joe Biden had lifted Trump’s ban on transgenders in the military, around 2,200 service personnel were diagnosed with gender dysphoria, and several other personnel identified as a different gender than what they were born, the report said.
Trump, who has repeatedly dismissed the inclusion of transgenders in the community, has a key vision: To rid America of perceived “wokeness” and “left-wing indoctrination”.
Since his first term, the US President-elect has said that he would cut money to “any school pushing critical race theory, transgender insanity, and other inappropriate racial, sexual or political content on children”. He also wants to keep transgender athletes out of girls’ sports and to forbid classroom lessons on gender identity.
Now, Trump’s defence pick Pete Hegseth – who will be in charge of the US military – also has dismissive views of the transgenders. He has forcefully argued that steps to incorporate women and transgender personnel across the military are eroding the US security, reported The Washington Post.
Earlier this month, Trump’s Vice President-elect JD Vance had triggered a row by making controversial remarks on transgender and nonbinary people, suggesting that some white children are incentivised to “become” trans to get college admissions into Ivy Leagues.
“If you are a middle-class or upper-middle-class white parent, and the only thing that you care about is whether your child goes into Harvard or Yale, obviously that pathway has become a lot harder for a lot of upper-middle class kids…The one way that those people can participate in the DEI (Diversity, equity, and inclusion) bureaucracy in this country is to be trans,” he said during a podcast with Joe Rogan.