Trump revokes Biden-era order allowing transgender members to serve in military

President Trump on Monday, in his first executive order, revoked dozens of Biden-era actions, including one that allowed members of the transgender community to serve in the military.

In a signing ceremony before supporters at Capitol One Arena, Trump revoked Executive Order 14004, signed by his predecessor, former President Biden, in January 2021.

The Biden order, also called Enabling All Qualified Americans To Serve Their Country in Uniform, had revoked a 2018 ban on transgender members from serving in the military that was implemented in Trump's first term.

It also more broadly ensured that no servicemember will be discharged or separated from the military based on gender identity and allows for their records to be corrected if they have been in the past.

The White House said it revoked a slate of Biden-era executive orders because the previous administration had "embedded deeply unpopular, inflationary, illegal, and radical practices" across the federal government.

Trump's White House specifically called out diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts that "has corrupted them by replacing hard work, merit, and equality with a divisive and dangerous preferential hierarchy."

Other Biden-era executive orders that Trump revoked included DEI and racial equity initiatives across the federal government and even actions to prevent discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation.

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said in a Monday night statement that Trump "is already restoring the focus of our military on lethality by putting an end to woke DEI programs."

Trump had pledged on the campaign trail to restore a ban on transgender service members from serving in the military again. His nominee for secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, has criticized the idea of transgender troops serving.

In his inauguration speech, Trump also said he would formally recognize just two genders, and he seeks to more widely dispel Biden's commitment to DEI initiatives and replace it with what Trump considers a merit-based process.

Monday's action is also part of a wider crackdown on transgender members in the armed forces from the GOP.

Republicans successfully slipped in an amendment to the 2025 defense bill that blocks gender-affirming care for transgender children of the military, legislation that Biden signed into law, although many Democrats objected to the provision.

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