Pentagon lawyers will fight back against judge orders that prevent the Trump administration from ousting transgender forces from the military, Defense Secretary Pete Hegses announced Wednesday.
Earlier this week, a federal judge in Washington, DC deemed President Trump's executive order as restoring a ban on unconstitutional transgender services, describing it as “immersed in animus.”
“We are sueing this decision. We will win,” Hegses wrote to X about the legal setback.
The Pentagon Chief began developing a plan last month to implement the president's January 27th executive order.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes ordered the Pentagon to halt transgender service members' discharge from the military and gave a Friday deadline for the administration to appeal before her preliminary injunction came into effect.
“The language is surprisingly sleazy, its policy accusing trans people of inherently ineligible, and its conclusions have nothing to do with facts,” Biden-appointed judge Reyes shook in a ferocious opinion.
“The cruel irony is that thousands of transgender soldiers have sacrificed their lives in danger in order to ensure that the ban on military ties are trying to deny them.”
The Department of Defense estimates that around 4,200 active service members are transgender, about 0.2% of the military.
The ban applies specifically to service members “a current diagnosis or history of gender discomfort, or gender history,” according to a Pentagon memo revealed in court filings.
Prior to Reyes' orders, the Pentagon had planned to set a March 26 deadline to develop a way to identify transgender service members, and to separate them from the military by June 25th.
While Hegus and Trump publicly characterize the ban as an effort to ensure military preparation, the judge took a different view, writing, “Leaders used concerns about military preparation to deny the privilege of service to marginalized people.”
Six active service members filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, which challenged the ban. GLBTQ's Legal Advocates and Advocates and the National Lesbian Rights Centre have argued the case on behalf of six service members.
“The court's opinion is long, but the premise is simple: there is nothing more than that in the self-evident truth that all people are created equally.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller was furious at Tuesday's verdict.
“The district court judges have determined that they are commanding the army…is there no end to this insanity?” he cheated X.
The Obama administration allowed trans people to openly serve the military, but Trump banned trans people as the 45th president – allowing people who were already in service to do so consistent with their gender identity, and continued to receive gender-related health care.
Ultimately, the US Supreme Court allowed the Trump ban to take effect before it was abolished by former President Joe Biden.
