Transgender service members challenge Trump's military ban
Two national LGBTQ legal organizations filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday challenging President Donald Trump’s executive order barring transgender people from serving and enlisting in the military.
Two national LGBTQ legal organizations filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday challenging President Donald Trump’s executive order barring transgender people from serving and enlisting in the military. The suit was filed on behalf of six active duty trans service members and two trans people seeking to enlist.
“This ban betrays fundamental American values of equal opportunity and judging people on their merit,” Jennifer Levi, the senior director of transgender and queer rights at GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD Law), said in a statement. “It slams the door on qualified patriots who meet every standard and want nothing more than to serve their country, simply to appease a political agenda. That’s not just un-American, it makes our country weaker by pushing away talented service members who put their lives on the line every day for our nation.”
GLAD Law and the National Center for Lesbian Rights filed the lawsuit against Trump and several military officials in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia one day after the president signed an executive order restricting transgender military service. The order, titled “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness,” reinstates a policy from Trump’s first term and rescinds a 2021 order by then-President Joe Biden that allowed trans people to enlist and serve openly.
The new policy is intended "to protect the American people and our homeland as the world’s most lethal and effective fighting force," according to the executive order. It adds that "the pursuit of military excellence cannot be diluted to accommodate political agendas or other ideologies harmful to unit cohesion."
The executive order requires the Defense Department to update its medical standards within 60 days to restrict coverage of certain transition-related care, "end invented and identification-based pronoun usage," and bar people assigned male at birth from using women’s sleeping, changing and bathing facilities.
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