Top Republicans in the Senate and House introduced new legislation on Thursday that would ban some transgender people from serving in the military, reviving a similar policy that was enacted under the Trump administration.
The Ensuring Military Readiness Act, sponsored by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), would disqualify Americans who identify as transgender, have a history of gender dysphoria or who have undergone gender reassignment surgery.
The legislation would force the Defense secretary to issue an updated policy within 90 days of the bill’s enactment into law.
Exceptions include those who have been “stable in their biological sex” for 36 months prior to joining the military, meaning they no longer have a desire to transition and are not struggling with their mental health, and active military members who remain deployable according to the “retention standards” of their sex assigned at birth.
Active service members who experience gender dysphoria on the date of the legislation’s enactment, as well as transgender people without a history of gender dysphoria, would be eligible to serve only under their sex assigned at birth.
Rubio said the military “has strict standards for who can and cannot qualify to serve,” comparing it to Americans with peanut allergies who are rejected from service.
“Biden has turned our military into a woke social experiment. It is a stupid way to go about protecting our nation,” Rubio said in a statement. “We need to spend more time thinking about how to counter threats like China, Russia, and North Korea and less time thinking about pronouns.”
Former President Trump announced a ban on transgender troops in 2017, the year he took office.
An official policy went into effect in 2019 barring troops from transitioning and requiring them to match their sex assigned at birth, leading to an outcry from human rights activists and LGBT organizations.
In January 2021, one of President Biden’s first actions was to repeal Trump’s policy, allowing those who identify as transgender to openly serve in the military.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin praised Biden’s decision at the time, calling it the “smart thing to do.”
“I believe we accomplish that mission more effectively when we represent all our fellow citizens,” Austin said in a statement at the time. “I also believe we should avail ourselves of the best possible talent in our population, regardless of gender identity.”
In the House, Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), the chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel, will introduce companion legislation to Rubio’s bill.
Banks on Thursday disagreed with the Biden administration, saying the “military holds recruits to stringent medical standards for a reason.”
“The Biden administration’s special carveout for those suffering from gender dysphoria was purely political,” Banks said in a statement.
The proposed legislation would also require the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System, a database on service members, to require military personnel to identify with their biological sex.
Multiple LGBT rights organizations, including GLAAD, have repeatedly decried Republican-led efforts to restrict transgender people from serving in the military, calling them baseless attacks not rooted in fact.