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Grace Abels
By Grace Abels January 22, 2025

Trump repeals Biden policy and clears path for trans military ban

As part of a Day 1 executive order repealing a slew of Biden administration policies, President Donald Trump cleared a path to reinstate a ban on transgender people serving in the military. 

Trump's Jan. 20 executive order, "Initial Recissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions," revoked several of President Joe Biden's executive orders, including a Jan. 25, 2021, order allowing transgender service members to openly serve.

Trump has yet to institute a new ban, but repealing the Biden executive order clears the path for such a policy to be executed. 

"This paves the way for a new ban on military service, but as of today, nothing has changed," said Rachel Branaman, executive director of the Modern Military Association of America, a nonprofit advocating for LGBTQ+ servicemembers and veterans. 

Trump's promise to reinstate a ban on transgender people serving in the military harks back to his first-term policy agenda. The promise is one of 75 Trump made that PolitiFact will track on the MAGA-Meter. Over the next four years, we will periodically evaluate the new administration's progress on Trump's 2024 campaign promises, just as we did with Barack ObamaTrump during his first term, and Joe Biden.

In a July 2017 tweet, Trump declared that "the United States Government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military." This policy aimed to reverse a 2016 Obama administration policy allowing trans people to serve openly.

In 2023, Trump claimed that he "banned transgender" people from serving in the military, and we rated it Mostly True. That's because after his policy was announced in a memorandum, it faced numerous legal challenges that delayed its execution. In 2021, Joe Biden signed an executive order reversing Trump's first-term restrictions and allowing transgender service members to serve openly.

Trump's reversal of Biden's order doesn't mean a ban is in force, but his Day 1 actions show his administration is paving the way to attempt to pass such a policy in the future.

We rate this promise In the Works.

Our Sources

Email interview with Rachel Branaman, executive director of the Modern Military Association of America, Jan 21, 2025

The White House, "Initial Rescissions Of Harmful Executive Orders And Actions," Jan. 20, 2025

The Federal Register, "Enabling All Qualified Americans To Serve Their Country in Uniform," Jan. 25, 2021

The 19th, "Trump clears the way to ban transgender people from military service," Jan. 20, 2025

Politico, "Trump repeals order allowing transgender troops to serve in military," Jan. 20, 2025

The Associated Press, "Trump to roll back protections for transgender people and end government DEI programs," Jan. 20, 2025

X post, July 26, 2017

X post, July 26, 2017

Department of Defense, "Secretary of Defense Ash Carter Announces Policy for Transgender Service Members," June 30, 2016

The Federal Register, "Military Service by Transgender Individuals," Aug. 25, 2017

PolitiFact, "Donald Trump issued trans military ban, but his administration rejected calling it that," March 8, 2023

White House Archives, "Presidential Memorandum for the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security Regarding Military Service by Transgender Individuals," March 23, 2018

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