President Donald Trump has revoked a Biden-era order allowing transgender people to serve in the military.
After taking the oath of office on Monday, the new president signed an order revoking former President Joe Biden’s order known as Enabling All Qualified Americans To Serve Their Country in Uniform, which was signed in 2021.
On the campaign trail, Trump promised to reinstate the ban on transgender troops he imposed during his first term. In his inauguration speech, he said he would formally recognize that there are only two genders: male and female.
There are an estimated 9,000 to 14,000 transgender service members.
The new executive order was part of a rapid-fire succession of moves Trump has taken to undo Biden’s policies. In a statement, the White House called out diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives across the federal government that ‘has corrupted them by replacing hard work, merit, and equality with a divisive and dangerous preferential hierarchy.’
The move comes as part of a campaign taken up by Trump and his Defense Department secretary nominee Pete Hegseth to weed out any DEI practices across U.S. forces.
Last week, Trump tapped Matthew Lohmeier to be the Air Force’s next undersecretary. In 2021, Lohmeier, a Space Force lieutenant colonel, was fired after calling out the military’s diversity programs and alleging ‘Marxism’ within its ranks.
Lohmeier has self-published a book, ‘Irresistible Revolution: Marxism’s Goal of Conquest and the Unmaking of the American Military’ and appeared on podcasts claiming the military was being weakened by Marxism, diversity efforts and critical race theory.
Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., chair of the House Armed Services Committee, praised the move, ‘is already restoring the focus of our military on lethality by putting an end to woke DEI programs.’
Monday’s actions are part of a wider Republican crackdown on transgenderism within the military. GOP lawmakers successfully included an amendment in their 2025 defense policy bill that bans irreversible transgender care for minors in the military healthcare system.
An order requiring the federal government to only recognize two genders has prohibited the use of taxpayer money for ‘transgender services’ following reports that some inmates were receiving transgender care funded by the government. Medicaid, in some states, currently covers such treatments.
Also, under that order, federal prisons and shelters for migrants and rape victims are to be segregated by biological sex. It would block requirements at government facilities and at workplaces that transgender people be referred to using pronouns that align with their gender. Trump’s team says those requirements violate the First Amendment’s freedom of speech and religion.
The order does not issue a nationwide mandate on which bathrooms transgender people can use or which sports competitions they can participate in, though many states have passed laws in those areas.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.