WASHINGTON – A federal judge blocked the enforcement of President Donald Trump's executive order Tuesday, banning transgender people from military service.
US District Judge Ana Reyes in Washington, DC, found Trump's order to exclude transgender forces from military service likely violates their constitutional rights.
She delayed the order until Friday, giving the administration time to appeal.
“The courts know that this opinion leads to intense public debate and appeal. Both are positive consequences in a healthy democracy,” writes Reyes. “But we should all agree that everyone who answered the call to serve deserves our gratitude and respect.”
The judge issued interim injunctions requested by his lawyers to six transgender people who are active service members and two other people seeking participation in the military.
On January 27th, Trump signed an executive order claiming the sexual identity of transgender service members.
In response to the order, Defense Secretary Pete Hegses issued a policy that presumably disqualifies people with gender discomfort from military service. Gender discomfort is the pain that a person feels because the gender identity does not match with the assigned gender. The condition is related to the idea of depression and suicide.
The plaintiff's lawyers argue that Trump's order violates the rights of trans people to equal protection under the Fifth Amendment.
Government lawyers argue that military officials have broad discretion to determine how to allocate and deploy military personnel without judicial interference.
Thousands of transgender people serve in the military, and they represent less than 1% of the total number of active service members.
In 2016, Department of Defense policies allowed trans people to openly serve the military. During Trump's first term in the White House, Republicans issued an order banning transgender service members. The Supreme Court has allowed the ban to come into effect. Democrat Joe Biden scrapped it when he took office.
Hegseth's February 26 policy states that “gender discomfort has a current diagnosis or history or indicates a matching condition, or gender discomfort is not compatible with the high mental and physical standards required for military service.”
The plaintiffs who sued to block Trump's orders will reserve the Army, an Army major who was awarded a bronze star to serve in Afghanistan and an award-winning sailors serving in the Navy.
Their lawyers said at the National Lesbian Rights and Rejoice Law Centre, the transgender army “just seek the opportunity to dedicate their lives to protect the nation.”
“However, these skilled service members are subject to an order that they must be separated from the military based on characteristics not related to their proven ability to do the job,” the plaintiff's lawyer wrote. “This is a harsh and reckless reversal of policy, slandering honorable trans service members, disrupt unit unit cohesion and weakening the military.”
