Biden reverses Trump s ban on transgender people in military
By Lolita C. Baldor and Zeke Miller
Published
WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden signed an order Monday reversing a Trump-era Pentagon policy that largely barred transgender individuals from serving in the military.
The new order, which Biden signed in the Oval Office during a meeting with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, overturns a ban ordered by President Donald Trump in a tweet during his first year in office. It immediately prohibits any service member from being forced out of the military on the basis of gender identity.
Biden s order says that gender identity should not be a bar to military service.
Alaska Guardsmen Answered the Call, Heading Home after Inauguration Assistance Alaska Guardsmen Answered the Call, Heading Home after Inauguration Assistance
U.S. Airmen and Soldiers with the Alaska National Guard climb the stairs inside the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Sgt. Mike Risinger)
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska Airmen and Soldiers of the Alaska National Guard assisted the District of Columbia National Guard and federal civilian authorities with the 59th Presidential Inauguration this week, and will be headed home within the next few days.
About 70 Alaska National Guard Airmen and Soldiers joined nearly 26,000 Guard members from every state, territory, and the District of Columbia to assist with the historic event. Concerns for safety and security increased after a Jan. 6 protest at the U.S. Capitol escalated, resulting in five deaths, many injuries and arrests. A large number of protesters pushed past barricades
Officials with the South Carolina National Guard say their members were not among those National Guard Soldiers asked to leave the U.S. Capitol on Thursday.
US Army National Guard/Sgt. Renee Seruntine
This month, soldiers from the US Army s 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) worked with Hellenic Armed Forces, to execute Eddie s Odyssey, a first-of-its-kind training mission in the Aegean Sea.
During the exercise, US helicopters supported Greek special operations forces while they operated on objectives only accessible by traversing long distances over water.
STEFANOVIKEIO, Greece – The US Army s 1st Battalion, 101st Combat Aviation Brigade (CAB), 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), together with Hellenic Armed Forces, executed Eddie s Odyssey, a first of its kind, joint training mission on Velopoula Island and over the Aegean Sea, January 13-14.
The
executive order reads, any on-duty or on-site federal employees (including members of the armed forces and members of the national guard in federal service); on-site federal contractors (and their employees); and all persons in federal buildings or on federal lands will be required to wear a mask.
The reason Biden issued these orders as a federal mandate is that a president cannot tell states or cities what to do. However, a federal mandate will affect federal offices and federal lands and can urge states to do the same.
Most federal buildings across East Texas are U.S. post offices.