Skip to content Skip to search

Republish This Story

* Please read before republishing *

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives Creative Commons license as long as you follow our republishing guidelines, which require that you credit The 19th and retain our pixel. See our full guidelines for more information.

To republish, simply copy the HTML at right, which includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to The 19th. Have questions? Please email [email protected].

— The Editors

Loading...

Modal Gallery

/
Sign up for our newsletter

Menu

  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Search
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships
    • From the Collection

      Changing Child Care

      Illustration of a woman feeding a baby a bottle
      • 1 in 4 parents report being fired for work interruptions due to child care breakdowns

        Chabeli Carrazana · February 2
      • Washington, D.C., offers financial relief to local child care workers

        Orion Rummler · September 20
      • As climate change worsens hurricane season in Louisiana, doulas are ensuring parents can safely feed their babies

        Jessica Kutz · May 5
    • From the Collection

      Next-Gen GOP

      Illustration of a woman riding an elephant
      • Mayra Flores’ victory set a record for women in Congress. It also reflects the growing visibility of Republican Latinas

        Candice Norwood · June 21
      • A banner year for Republican women

        Amanda Becker · November 11
      • Republican women could double representation in the U.S. House

        Amanda Becker · November 4
    • From the Collection

      On The Rise

      Illustration of three women marching
      • Can Cheri Beasley build a winning coalition in North Carolina?

        Candice Norwood · October 11
      • Los Angeles has never elected a woman mayor. Karen Bass hopes to change that.

        Nadra Nittle · September 8
      • Judge J. Michelle Childs is confirmed to D.C. appeals court

        Candice Norwood · July 20
    • From the Collection

      Pandemic Within a Pandemic

      Illustration of four people marching for Black Lives Matter with coronavirus as the backdrop
      • Some LGBTQ+ people worry that the COVID-19 vaccine will affect HIV medication. It won’t.

        Orion Rummler · November 23
      • Why are more men dying from COVID? It’s a complicated story of nature vs. nurture, researchers say

        Mariel Padilla · September 22
      • Few incarcerated women were released during COVID. The ones who remain have struggled.

        Candice Norwood · August 17
    • From the Collection

      Portraits of a Pandemic

      Illustration of a woman wearing a mask and holding up the coronavirus
      • For family caregivers, COVID is a mental health crisis in the making

        Shefali Luthra · October 8
      • A new database tracks COVID-19’s effects on sex and gender

        Shefali Luthra · September 15
      • Pregnant in a pandemic: The 'perfect storm for a crisis'

        Shefali Luthra · August 25
    • From the Collection

      The 19th Explains

      People walking from many articles to one article where they can get the context they need on an issue.
      • The 19th Explains: What we know about Brittney Griner’s case and what it took to get her home

        Candice Norwood, Katherine Gilyard · December 8
      • The 19th Explains: Why the Respect for Marriage Act doesn’t codify same-sex marriage rights

        Kate Sosin · December 8
      • The 19th Explains: Why baby formula is still hard to find months after the shortage

        Mariel Padilla · December 1
    • From the Collection

      The Electability Myth

      Illustration of three women speaking at podiums
      • Mayra Flores’ victory set a record for women in Congress. It also reflects the growing visibility of Republican Latinas

        Candice Norwood · June 21
      • Stepping in after tragedy: How political wives became widow lawmakers

        Mariel Padilla · May 24
      • Do term limits help women candidates? New York could be a new testing ground

        Barbara Rodriguez · January 11
    • From the Collection

      The Impact of Aging

      A number of older people walking down a path of information.
      • From ballroom dancing to bloodshed, the older AAPI community grapples with gun control

        Nadra Nittle, Mariel Padilla · January 27
      • 'I'm planning on working until the day I die': Older women voters are worried about the future

        Mariel Padilla · June 3
      • Climate change is forcing care workers to act as first responders

        Jessica Kutz · May 31
    • From the Collection

      Voting Rights

      A series of hands reaching for ballots.
      • Women lawmakers in Minnesota are in the vanguard of the democracy movement

        Barbara Rodriguez · February 3
      • Election workers believe in our system — and want everyone else to, too

        Barbara Rodriguez, Jennifer Gerson · November 8
      • Voter ID laws stand between transgender people, women and the ballot box

        Barbara Rodriguez · October 14

    View all collections

  • Explore by Topic

    • 19th Polling
    • Abortion
    • Business & Economy
    • Caregiving
    • Coronavirus
    • Education
    • Election 2020
    • Election 2022
    • Environment & Climate
    • Health
    • Immigration
    • Inside The 19th
    • Justice
    • LGBTQ+
    • Politics
    • Press Release
    • Race
    • Sports
    • Technology

    View All Topics

Home
  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Search
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships

We’re an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy. Read our story.

The 19th News(letter)

News from reporters who represent you and your communities.

Please check your email to confirm your subscription!

Submitting...

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please try again later.

Become a member

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

A man in a suit stands in a field.
Petty Officer First Class Brock Stone sued to be able to serve in the United States Navy under the transgender military ban. (Photograph by Keith Lane)

LGBTQ+

Biden ends the trans military ban that forced 13,700 to choose between their jobs and transitioning

Thousands of transgender military members sacrificed serving as their true selves over the past two years.

Kate Sosin

LGBTQ+ reporter

Kate Sosin portrait

Published

2021-01-25 14:25
2:25
January 25, 2021
pm

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

For the latest news on the historic presidential inauguration and impacts of the new administration, subscribe to The 19th’s daily newsletter.

The Trump administration’s transgender military ban wasn’t just a blow to LGBTQ+ rights: The order likely represented an unprecedented employment challenge for a community already facing staggering unemployment rates.

On Monday, President Joe Biden struck down the ban in an executive order, allowing all qualified service members to serve.

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

“This question of how to enable all qualified Americans to serve in the military is easily answered by recognizing our core values,” the White House said in a statement. “America is stronger, at home and around the world, when it is inclusive. The military is no exception.”

Then-President Donald Trump first announced the ban on Twitter in 2017, but a series of court battles ensnared the policy before it finally went into effect in January 2019.

An estimated 13,763 of the military’s 14,700 transgender service members faced dismissal  under the ban, according to data from the Palm Center, an institute that researches LGBTQ+ military inclusion. 

Joshua Block, an attorney with the ACLU, said it’s unclear how many transgender people actually lost their jobs under the ban. The old policy allowed for trans service members who had a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria prior to the ban’s implementation to continue service. The Palm Center found that 937 service members were grandfathered in under the rule. 

Stories by experienced reporters you can trust and relate to.

Delivered directly to your inbox every weekday.

Please check your email to confirm your subscription!

Submitting…

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please try again later.

“But everyone else, either because they didn’t feel safe enough yet to come forward or because they hadn’t yet become aware of their gender identity … all those folks have been serving in silence for the past two years,” Block said. 

Bree Fram, communications director of the transgender military advocacy organization SPART*A, points out that the ban likely forced most to put off transition in order to stay employed.

“The other service members were allowed to continue serving as long as they did so in their sex assigned at birth,” Fram said. “They could not transition or access transition related medical care.”

With the ban lifted, Fram estimates that several hundred transgender will join the military annually. 

“I am elated that the approximately 15,000 transgender service members proudly serving across the globe can rest easier knowing that their service to our nation is seen, valued and that they can continue to serve as their authentic selves,” said Emma Shinn, president of SPART*A and a captain in the Marine Corps, in a statement.

The military is the largest employer in the United States. Transgender people are twice as likely to serve as the general population, according to the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey. That same survey found that transgender Americans are three times more likely to be unemployed than their cisgender peers. The Human Rights Campaign says the pandemic has only exacerbated that reality. LGBTQ+ people disproportionately make up workers in the service sector, where they are more likely to face exposure to COVID-19, and 29 percent of transgender adults live in poverty.

President Biden’s order allows us to put this shameful episode behind us.

Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights

According to the White House, the decision to reverse the ban was made based on a 2016 Department of Defense study, which found that allowing transgender people to serve openly would minimally impact the military in terms of health-care costs, a justification that Trump used for the ban. 

The move makes good on a campaign promise Biden made to LGBTQ+ Americans to revoke the ban on day one of his presidency. Instead, that day Biden issued an executive order directing federal agencies to implement the Supreme Court’s landmark job nondiscrimination protections, signaling that the ban would be repealed in a matter of days. 

LGBTQ+ organizations praised the president.

“President Biden’s order allows us to put this shameful episode behind us and marks the beginning of a much brighter era in which military service is once again based on a person’s qualifications, not on who they are,” said Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, in a statement.

Brock Stone, petty officer first class in the Navy who sued the Trump administration, said in a statement that he is relieved.

“I joined the Navy in 2006 to serve my country, and my idea of patriotism includes speaking up for myself and anyone else who’s being held down,” Stone said. “No one in this country should be afraid to be themselves, to walk down a street, to apply for a job, to go out in public, or to exist.”

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

Help sustain what we started

Your monthly investment is critical to our sustainability as a nonprofit newsroom.

Donate Today

Become a member

Up Next

A photo of Kim Hunt speaking.

LGBTQ+

LGBTQ+ Americans greet the Biden-Harris era with hope, hesitancy

To many, the moment marks a new dawn, the end of deeply distressing four years. Others are simply exhausted.

Read the Story

The 19th
The 19th is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Our stories are free to republish in accordance with these guidelines.

  • Donate
  • Newsletter
  • Events
  • Search
  • Jobs
  • Fellowships
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Community Guidelines
  • Membership
  • Membership FAQ
  • Major Gifts
  • Sponsorship
  • Privacy
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram