President Donald Trump is expected to sign three executive orders Monday targeting military personnel in an expansion of his crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives after ordering federal agencies last week to eliminate the programs, according to multiple reports.
President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office on January 20, 2025 in Washington, ... [+]
The orders are expected to rescind the military’s DEI practices, ban transgender individuals from serving, and reinstate service members who were fired for refusing the Covid-19 vaccine, with back pay, according to multiple reports, citing unnamed sources.
Newly appointed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also told reporters Monday there are “more executive orders coming,” specifically citing the rehiring of service members who were released for refusing to be vaccinated.
The executive order addressing transgender individuals in the military is reportedly expected to go a step further than the order Trump signed last week reinstating prohibitions from his first term that the Biden administration eliminated and will include new guidelines for gender pronouns and mental and physical readiness—a provision that could apply to military members who are undergoing gender reassignment treatments, CNN reported.
14,000. That’s how many transgender service members were in the U.S. military as of 2018, according to CNN, citing the Palm Center independent research institute. Around 8,000 service members were discharged for refusing to be vaccinated.
Trump signed several executive orders on his first day in office targeting DEI programs, which he referred to in one as “forced illegal and immoral discrimination programs.” He eliminated all federal government DEI programs and put DEI employees on paid leave. Another order declares the government will recognize only two genders, male and female, upending a Biden-era rule that allowed passport applicants to state their gender as “X.” Hegseth is also staunchly opposed to DEI initiatives, writing Sunday on X “The President’s guidance (lawful orders) is clear: No more DEI” at the Defense Department, adding “the Pentagon will comply, immediately . . . no exceptions, name-changes, or delays.”
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