The Biden administration is all set to roll back the ban on American transgenders from joining the US Armed Forces. The decision comes as Biden plans to turn his attention to equity issues that he believes continue to shadow nearly all aspects of American life. The new Defence Secretary General Austin, a retired army general, spoke of the need to rescind the ban during his Senate confirmation hearing last week. “If you’re fit and you’re qualified to serve and you can maintain the standards, you should be allowed to serve,” he said.
This ban had been announced by former POTUS Donald Trump during his first year of tenure via a ‘tweet’. He had put forward this ban citing “tremendous medical costs and disruption”. By virtue of it, while transgenders who had been serving the military prior to the ban were allowed to continue, new recruits were prevented.
A recent study put the number of transgender people in the military at the time between 1,320 and 6,630. Gender-change surgery is rare in the general population, and even so, its cost could range from $2.4 million and $8.4 million a year, an amount that would represent an “exceedingly small proportion” of total health care expenditures, the study found.
It is to be noted that the Trump administration has far and wide been critical about policy decisions corresponding to the LGBTQIA+ community, and has slammed down on several policies in this regard.