Donald Trump, on his first day in office yesterday, signed an executive order repealing former President Joe Biden’s executive order that allowed out transgender people to serve in the military. The move doesn’t immediately ban trans people from serving in the military but paves the way for a future order from Trump to ban trans servicemembers.

In an executive order entitled “Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions,” Trump rescinded a slew of Biden administration policies, accusing them of being “deeply unpopular, inflationary, illegal, and radical.”

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Included in the list is Executive Order 14004, issued on January 25, 2021, entitled “Enabling All Qualified Americans To Serve Their Country in Uniform.” That order, issued by Biden, revoked Trump’s previous transgender military ban and ordered the military’s leaders to develop a policy for allowing servicemembers to transition.

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Republicans defended the move, with Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) saying in a statement that Trump “is already restoring the focus of our military on lethality by putting an end to woke DEI programs.”

Trump has said that he plans to ban transgender people from serving in the military again. Fox host Pete Hegseth, who Trump nominated to lead the Department of Defense, has been critical of transgender people being allowed to serve in the military.

At least two other LGBTQ+ executive orders were included in Trump’s order to rescind Biden-era orders yesterday. One is Executive Order 14021, Guaranteeing an Educational Environment Free From Discrimination on the Basis of Sex, Including Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity, which ordered the Department of Education to implement policies to protect the rights of LGBTQ+ students in schools that receive federal money.

The other is Executive Order 14075, Advancing Equality for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex Individuals. This order took aim at conversion therapy and expanded foster care protections for LGBTQ+ parents and youth. It directed the Department of Health and Human Services to create new policies to protect LGBTQ+ families and the Education Department to protect queer and trans kids in schools in light of an epidemic of state laws attacking LGBTQ+ people. It is now repealed.

Trump’s order rescinding these previous orders is just one of the anti-LGBTQ+ executive actions he signed yesterday. He also signed an executive order defining sex as based on reproductive biology at birth, banning trans and nonbinary people from obtaining federal IDs that reflect who they are, and also banning federal agencies from enforcing the principle behind the Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton Co., which found that anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination necessarily involves discrimination on the basis of sex.

“Today’s expected executive actions targeting the LGBTQ+ community serve no other purpose than to hurt our families and our communities,” HRC President Kelley Robinson said in a statement. “Every person deserves to be treated with dignity and respect in all areas of their lives. No one should be subjected to ongoing discrimination, harassment, and humiliation where they work, go to school, or access healthcare.”

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