Republican lawmakers move to ban some transgender individuals from military

Republican lawmakers in both chambers of Congress are backing legislation to ban certain transgender individuals from military service over mental and physical fitness concerns.

Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio on Thursday introduced the Ensuring Military Readiness Act to disqualify transgender-identifying individuals, those with a history of gender dysphoria, and those who have had a gender reassignment surgery from serving in the Armed Forces.

The measure makes exceptions for those who have been "stable in their biological sex" for three years prior to joining up, do not exhibit mental health issues, and are eligible for deployment under the standards of their biological sex. It further allows an exception for existing service members who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria and guarantees their rights to medical treatments except for gender transitions.

"The military has strict standards for who can and cannot qualify to serve. For example, under President Biden, you can't serve with a peanut allergy," Rubio noted in a statement on the plan. "Biden has turned our military into a woke social experiment. It is a stupid way to go about protecting our nation. We need to spend more time thinking about how to counter threats like China, Russia, and North Korea and less time thinking about pronouns."

Indiana Republican Rep. Jim Banks plans to introduce the companion bill in the lower chamber. Banks highlighted other restrictions on military service for individuals with different mental health complications when asserting that the permissive policy for transgender individuals of the Biden administration was politically motivated.

"Americans who were treated for ADHD in the past two years must receive a waiver to enlist. Our military holds recruits to stringent medical standards for a reason and the Biden administration's special carveout for those suffering from gender dysphoria was purely political," he said. "Our bill ensures that DoD puts lethality and readiness before far-left ideology."

The lawmakers observe that the legislation builds upon prior directives from former President Donald Trump that the Biden administration repealed.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.