Thousands of transgender service members woke up today with renewed hope and an increased sense of security, no longer living with the daily fear that they might be forced from service. Through an executive order, President Joe Biden fulfilled his promise to reverse the hateful, discriminatory ban.

I hope you’ll join me in saluting our transgender service members for their courage and for their sacrifice. By prioritizing an end to this discriminatory, unjustified ban, President Biden has fulfilled a campaign promise and is making our military stronger and more unified.

Since the July 2017 tweet that placed a ban on transgender people serving in the military, GLAAD has used our megaphone to amplify the stories of dedicated transgender service members across media and at events like the GLAAD Media Awards and 2017 MTV VMAs. We also supported the production and publicity of TransMilitary, a documentary which tells the stories of trans service members serving our country.  At a GLAAD screening of the documentary, Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the ban “an act of cruelty” and went on to say about transgender acceptance in the military and beyond: “To them it’s inconceivable, to us it is inevitable. So we have to shorten the distance between the inconceivable to some and the inevitable to us.”

There is still a tremendous amount of work to do in the first 100 days and beyond ensuring the LGBTQ community reclaims our ground and pushing equality forward. Please, if you are able, make a gift now to support GLAAD's efforts on behalf of LGBTQ people as our community's watchdog, ensuring fair and accurate reporting and amplifying the issues we face everyday and the stories about our heros that inspire acceptance.

In Solidarity, 

Sarah Kate Ellis
GLAAD President and CEO

PS - If you would like to support GLAAD on an ongoing basis, please consider becoming a monthly donor here.