The US president wants to ban transgender people from the military and end diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
To ensure that we have the most lethal fighting force in the world, we will rid our military of transgender ideology,” Donald Trump told Republican lawmakers in Florida. The 47th president of the United States signed an executive order on Monday, January 27, banning “radical gender ideology” from the American military.
“Consistent with the military mission and longstanding Department of Defense policy, the expression of a false ‘gender identity’ that is different from an individual’s sex cannot meet the rigorous standards required for military service,” said the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, who has embarked on an anti-woke crusade . In concrete terms, transgender people will no longer be able to serve under the Stars and Stripes. There are currently about 15,000 of them out of about two million military personnel.
A decision in line with a previous decree of January 20 recognizing only “two sexes, male and female”, complicating administrative procedures for transgender people . Their entry into the army had been authorized in 2016, before being officially accepted on July 1, 2017 under the mandate of Joe Biden.
End of diversity, equity and inclusion programs
In addition to transgender people, the new president has also taken aim at diversity, equity, and inclusion programs within the world’s largest military. Again, an executive order was signed on January 27 slamming “diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs and racial and gender preferences” that have been implemented in recent years. “These actions undermine leadership, merit, and unit cohesion, thereby eroding the lethality and readiness of the force.” All DEI offices will be eliminated.
As a result, the US Air Force removed videos about the Tuskegee Airmen from its training course. This unit formed during World War II is the only one made up of 15,000 black pilots and mechanics, whose story was adapted for the cinema in the film Red Tails (2012). The same fate for videos showing women members of the Wasp (Women Airforce Service Pilots). From August 1943 to December 1944, two squadrons of women pilots carried out logistics missions, ferrying planes.
The first woman to be appointed to head one of the branches of the US military, Admiral Linda Fagan was also fired on January 21. Has the woman who had been at the head of the United States Coast Guard since June 2022 been the victim of Donald Trump’s policies? According to Fox News, which anonymously quotes a senior official from the Department of Homeland Security, Linda Fagan was reportedly fired due to concerns about border protection, recruitment and “erosion of trust.”
US President Donald Trump has signed multiple military reorganisation executive orders.
DEE efforts in the military were banned by a late Monday order. It will eliminate race- and sex-based biases in the military, Defence, and Homeland Security.
Another reinstates over 8,000 service men who were discharged for refusing the COVID-19 immunisation.
The White House said a third executive order requires officials to create a transgender personnel policy. Transgender service members are not automatically banned.
The White House says a proclamation has been made to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Auschwitz’s liberation, and a fourth order demands the development of a “American Iron Dome” like Israel’s.
Trump signed the executive orders on Air Force One.
After taking office last week, Trump quickly implemented one of his campaign promises: eliminating DEI programs from the federal government.
DEI programs encourage diverse workplace involvement.
These programs aim to remedy historical under-representation and prejudice against racial minorities, but critics believe they can be discriminatory.
The Trump administration thinks dismantling these military efforts will promote recruiting.
Former defence officials say the military services missed recruitment goals by 41,000 soldiers in 2023.
Pete Hegseth told reporters on Monday that “there are more executive orders coming” to remove military initiatives like these.
DEI removal from military
The administration’s “restoring America’s fighting force” order prohibits any branch of the military, Department of Defence, or Department of Homeland Security from discriminating based on race or sex.
Additionally, any remaining DEI-related bureaucracy will be eliminated from those departments., the document said.
The President says the Secretary of Defence will conduct “an internal review that documents actions taken in pursuit of DEI initiatives, including all instances of race and sex discrimination and activities designed to promote a race- or sex-based preferences system” within 90 days of signing the executive order.
It is unclear which programs the order will effect.