The administration of US President Joe Biden is expected to cancel the ban on transgender Americans from serving in the military. Some authentic sources have confirmed that the announcement is expected on Monday 25th January. The senior Defense official informed a news outlet that the cancelation will be through an executive order signed by President Joe Biden. The announcement is expected to take place at a ceremony with newly-confirmed Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. Point to be noted that Austin will order the Pentagon to go back to the policy enacted in 2016 by former Defense Secretary Ash Carter that allowed transgender Americans to serve openly. The ban was announced by former President Trump via a tweet in July 2017. The ban took effect in April 2019 and barred transgender Americans from enlisting in the military.
The new order will direct the branches of the military to outline an implementation plan. A study by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law said it was estimated that there were around 15,500 transgender military members serving, in 2014. President Biden frequently repeated on the campaign trail his promise to cancel the ban. Last week, Austin said at his Senate confirmation hearing that he planned to cancel the ban. On Tuesday, he responded when asked by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and said, “I support the president’s plan or plan to overturn the ban, I truly believe, Senator, as I said in my opening statement that if you’re fit and you’re qualified to serve and you can maintain the standards, you should be allowed to serve. And, you can expect that I will support that throughout”.
It is noteworthy that the Biden administration has fired the heads of 3 US-funded international broadcasters that were appointed by Donald Trump. The acting chief and CEO of USAGM (US Agency for Global Media), Kelu Chao dismissed the directors of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks. President Biden had also forced Trump’s pick to run the USAGM to resign with hours of stepping foot in the White House. The latest changes came just a day after the director of Voice of America and his deputy were terminated and the chief of the Office of Cuba Broadcasting stood down. The now-former head of the USAGM, Michael Pack had been alleged by Democrats of trying to turn the networks into pro-Trump propaganda outfits.