Among the orders would be those that banned transgender service members from openly serving in the U.S. military, cutting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs within the ranks, and reinstating individuals kicked out for refusing the coronavirus vaccine — with full backpay and benefits.
Trump has already revoked an executive order signed by former President Biden in 2021 that allowed transgender people to serve and prevented the military from discharging soldiers because of their gender identity. Trump also signed a sweeping executive order recognizing only two genders, male and female.
Monday’s executive order builds on those efforts, directing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who previously criticized allowing transgender people to serve, to outline new military readiness requirements that declare transgender troops are not physically or mentally capable of doing so. It tasks Hegseth with acting against “the use of invented and identification-based pronouns” within the department.
Hegseth, who was sworn in as defense secretary on Saturday, previously said he planned to remove “woke” service members and end DEI initiatives, part of a broader implementation of cultural changes to the military.
After arriving at the Pentagon Monday morning, Hegseth said there are “more executive orders coming.”
“Today, there are more executive orders coming, . . . on removing DEI inside the Pentagon, reinstating troops who were pushed out because of Covid mandates, iron dome for America — this is happening quickly, and as the secretary of defense, it’s an honor to salute smartly as I did as a junior officer and now as the secretary of defense to ensure these orders are complied with rapidly and quickly,” Hegseth told reporters.
Trump in 2017 first banned transgender individuals from serving in the military while in his first term, but then-President Biden repealed the ban in a 2021 order.
Monday’s executive order, according to the fact sheet, argues that allowing transgender people to serve openly in the military has undermined military readiness and “unit cohesion,” an argument that has long been used to prevent marginalized communities, including Black and gay Americans and women, from serving.
The COVID-19 executive order, meanwhile, makes good on a Trump campaign promise and is something he previewed during his inaugural address.
Hegseth also vowed to reinstate military members dismissed over the COVID-19 shot, saying during his confirmation hearing that those service members “will be apologized to. They will be reinstated, reinstituted with pay and rank.”
From August 2021 to January 2023, the Biden administration and former Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin discharged more than 8,000 troops over their refusal to get a mandated COVID-19 shot, with limited exceptions for medical issues or religious objections.
That number represented less than 1 percent of the total military strength, but the dismissals became a rallying cry for Republicans who accused Biden officials of hampering military readiness and of religious discrimination.
Read the full report at TheHill.com.
