Trump signs order that likely sets in motion future ban on transgender troops

Washington: President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday directing Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth to revise the Pentagon’s policy on transgender troops, likely setting in motion a future ban on their military service.

He also ordered troops to be reinstated who had left voluntarily or been booted for refusing COVID-19 vaccines, outlined new rollbacks in diversity programmes and provided for the deployment of a space-based missile defence shield for the US — all on Hegseth’s first day.

Trump and Hegseth had described parts of the anticipated orders throughout the day, but the exact language did not drop until

late Monday.

Transgender order

A transgender ban had been widely expected, and Trump’s order largely sets the stage for a future ban — but directs Hegseth to come up with how that would be implemented in policy.

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 honourable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life” and is harmful to military readiness, requiring a revised policy to address the matter.

Trump had tried to ban transgender troops during his first term, but it was tangled up in the courts for years before being overturned by then-President Joe Biden shortly after he took office.

Lambda Legal and Human Rights Campaign vowed to sue after transgender military ban reinstated. Trump directed Pentagon to develop space-based missile defense. He also offered reinstatement for troops discharged over vaccine refusal.