Joe Biden Is Planning To Reverse Donald Trump’s Military Ban For Trans People
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President-elect Joe Biden has been praised over his plans to reverse Trump's ban of allowing transgender people to serve in the military.
According to ABC News, a policy document revealed the Biden campaign said Trump and Vice President Mike Pence 'have given hate against LGBTQ+ individuals safe harbour and rolled back critical protections'.
As well as lifting the ban, Biden also reportedly wants to create high-level LGBTQ+ positions in the State Department, as well as in the National Security Council and other federal agencies.
The Biden administration will also make enforcing the 2019 Equality Act a major priority, which 'prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing, public accommodations, public education, federal funding, credit, and the jury system.'
At least 37 transgender and gender-nonconforming people have been killed this year, most of them Black and Brown transgender women. It's intolerable. This Transgender Day of Remembrance, we honor their lives-and recommit to the work that remains to end this epidemic of violence.
- Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) November 20, 2020
While Biden's plan to protect the rights of transgender people has received widespread praise, others - particularly religious conservatives - have criticised the proposal.
A Christian anti-LGBT+ activist and 'motivational speaker' who goes by the name 'Dr Chaps' slammed Biden in a recent newsletter to his followers.
Dr Chaps, whose real name is Gordon Klingenschmitt, is a former Navy chaplain who served in the Colorado House of Representatives from 2015 until 2017, who has now claimed that Joe Biden was planning to form a 'transgender atheist army for the antichrist'.
In his newsletter, he referenced Biden's victory speech in which the President-elect thanked 'gay, straight and transgender' Americans for their support and promised to reverse Donald Trump's trans military ban.
Klingenschmitt declared that Biden was out to 'transgenderise the military and punish Christian troops', writing: "Female solders and students will be forced to share common showers and rooms with cross-dressing men or boys with male anatomy, within hours of Biden's inauguration."
He added: "Christian troops who object to sharing co-ed showers and bunks with opposite gender anatomy will be vilified as 'discriminators' and punished, demoted, discharged or court-martialed."
Biden's support for transgender individuals comes following the president-elect acknowledging the Transgender Day of Remembrance weeks ago, where he promised to fight for the trans community as it faces growing violence.
"On Transgender Day of Remembrance, we honour their lives - and recommit to the work that remains to ensure that every transgender and gender-nonconforming person in America has the opportunity to live authentically, earn a living wage, and be treated with dignity and respect in their communities and workplaces," Biden said in a statement.
Featured Image Credit: PA
Topics: joe biden, Donald Trump, US
