President Trump's ban came on anniversary of Truman desegregating troops

On July 26, 1948, President Truman signed an executive order that desegregated the troops.

The order began, "It is essential that there be maintained in the armed services of the United States the highest standards of democracy, with equality of treatment and opportunity for all those who serve in our country's defense."

The policy declares that "there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin."

On Wednesday, it didn't escape Twitter users that President Trump announced his decision to ban transgender people from serving in the military 69 years after Truman's executive order.

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Of course, Truman's policy didn't touch on sexual orientation or gender identity. Throughout much of U.S. history, homosexuality was grounds for discharge from the military. The "don't ask, don't tell" law enacted during the Clinton administration allowed gay, lesbian and bisexual people to serve, but only if they didn't disclose their sexual orientation.

When "don't ask, don't tell" was repealed in 2010, that opened the doors for gay, lesbian and bisexual people to serve openly. Left out of that equation: transgender people, who still had to serve in silence or be discharged for medical reasons.

That changed in July 2016, when the Obama administration lifted the ban.