Trump readies transgender ban, return of military Covid-19 discharges

WASHINGTON -  President Donald Trump will sign executive actions that will restrict transgender troops from serving in the military and reinstate personnel who were discharged for refusing to receive a Covid-19 vaccine, according to people familiar with the matter.

The orders follow through on pledges Mr Trump has made to reshape the US military in his second term, targeting what he and his defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, have cast as “woke” policies they claim have distracted the armed forces from their mission.

One order will require the defence secretary to update Pentagon medical standards to ensure they prioritise “readiness and lethality,” according to a fact sheet provided by the people on condition of anonymity, setting the stage to ban transgender troops.

It will also require the secretary to “end the use of invented and identification-based pronouns” in the Defence Department. And it will prohibit males from using or sharing sleeping, changing or bathing facilities designated for females.

Mr Trump banned transgender troops from serving during his first administration, restrictions lifted by President Joe Biden in 2021. Last week, Mr Trump also signed an order that

recognises two sexes

, male and female, and which seeks to mandate federal agencies use the term sex and not gender. Mr Trump campaigned on rolling back transgender protections, including in women’s sports, an issue he highlighted at rallies and in ads.

Another order will direct the Pentagon chief to reinstate discharged members – both active and reserve duty – who request to return to service, granting them their former rank and full back pay with benefits, according to the people familiar.

The move follows through on a promise Mr Trump reiterated during his inaugural address, in which he assailed the decisions to remove the service members as “unjust.” The order was first reported by Fox News.

About 8,000 troops, or less than 1 per cent of the military, were discharged for refusing the vaccine during the mandate, which lasted from August 2021 to January 2023 under the Biden administration. The military made some exceptions for medical issues or religious objections but the dismissals sparked legal challenges and because a flashpoint for conservatives. 

Mr Trump in his first administration oversaw the federal response to quickly develop a vaccine to the Covid-19 pandemic, one of the signature accomplishments of that term. However, the President has been reluctant to openly embrace those efforts following a backlash from conservatives over public health efforts such as lockdowns and mandates for masks and shots.

In his second term, Mr Trump has tapped a number of figures known for unorthodox views on medicine and public health, including most notably Mr Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, his pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Mr Kennedy is a prominent vaccine sceptic, who has long questioned their safety and efficacy. 

The President in his first week also moved to

withdraw the US from the World Health Organisation

. During his first term Mr Trump also tried to pull the US from the international group, saying it deferred too much to the Chinese government in the early days of the pandemic and failed to do enough to contain the disease. BLOOMBERG