Donald Trump signed four executive orders pertaining to the military, including one barring transgender people from enlisting and serving openly and another cracking down on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in the armed services.
The order pertaining to transgender military service, titled "Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness," reinstates a policy from Trump's first term and rescinds an order by then-President Joe Biden that allowed trans people to enlist and permitted already enlisted trans service members to receive coverage for transition-related medical care.
In his order, Trump claimed that service by troops who identify as a gender other than their biological one “conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life” and is harmful to military readiness, requiring a revised policy to address the matter.
The Department of Defense doesn’t publicly report how many trans people are serving in the military, and estimates vary widely. One 2014 report by the Williams Institute at UCLA found that about 15,500 transgender people were serving in the military.
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