In a recent interview, Joe Biden
promised he would reverse the military's ban on transgender service,
if elected to the White House in November.
“As president, I will direct the
Department of Defense to allow transgender service members to serve
openly, receive needed medical treatment, and be free from
discrimination,” Biden told LGBTQ Nation
on the ninth anniversary of the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell.
“If I have the privilege of serving as the next commander in chief,
I will ensure that our American heroes know I will have their back
and honor their sacrifice—always, no matter who they are or who
they love.”
In 2016, the Obama administration
lifted restrictions on transgender people serving openly in the armed
forces.
In a series of tweets in July 2017,
Trump declared that the military will no longer “accept or allow”
transgender troops to serve “in any capacity.” After several
setbacks in lower courts, the administration modified its policy to
allow transgender troops to serve provided they do so as the sex they
were assigned at birth. Troops who came out while the old policy was
in place were grandfathered in.
The Supreme Court allowed the
administration to begin implementation of the policy even as four
challenges to the ban are pending in federal courts.
In June, the Supreme Court in Bostock
expanded the definition of sex to include gender identity in federal
workplace protections.
Biden, who in 2012 called transgender
equality the “civil rights issue of our time,” in June
criticized
Trump's rollback of transgender protections in health care.