Transgender soldiers have filed lawsuits challenging US president Donald Trump’s ban on transgender people from serving in the US Military.
In addition to the executive order restricting military service for trans people, Trump issued an executive order hours after his inauguration targeting “gender ideology.” The order declared that the U.S. government will recognize only two sexes, male and female, and that “these sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality,” resulting in the State Department freezing all passport applications requesting a sex-marker change.
Two national LGBTQ legal organizations filed a federal lawsuit on Tuesday, January 28 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.
“President Trump’s ban on transgender people serving in the military discriminates against Plaintiffs based on their sex and based on their transgender status, without lawful justification, in violation of the Equal Protection component of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment,” the lawsuit filed on Tuesday states.
“Rather than being based on any legitimate governmental purpose, the ban reflects animosity toward transgender people because of their transgender status.”
One of the plaintiffs, Army 2nd Lt. Nicolas Talbott, is a 31-year-old transgender man (pictured above) has served with distinction in an Army Reserve unit in Pennsylvania, according to the lawsuit. Talbott, the suit adds, was “named Honor Graduate at basic combat training by his drill sergeants for going above and beyond in training and stepping up to leadership roles.”
“When you put on the uniform, differences fall away and what matters is your ability to do the job,” Talbott said in a statement. “Every individual must meet the same objective and rigorous qualifications in order to serve. It has been my dream and my goal to serve my country for as long as I can remember. My being transgender has no bearing on my dedication to the mission, my commitment to my unit, or my ability to perform my duties in accordance with the high standards expected of me and every servicemember.”
GLAD and the National Center for Lesbian Rights filed suit against Trump’s last trans military ban, issued in 2017, and, as a result, multiple judges blocked the policy from taking effect for nearly two years. In 2019, the Supreme Court allowed the policy to take effect while litigation proceeded in lower courts.
Shannon Minter, vice president of legal at the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said service members’ challenge to the suit is even stronger this time around. He noted that the Supreme Court ruled that discrimination based on transgender status is discrimination based on sex in its landmark decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, in 2020. That, Minter added, means the trans military ban, which necessarily discriminates based on trans status, would have to meet a very high standard to show that such discrimination is justified to achieve a legitimate government interest.
Further, trans people have been serving openly for four years, Minter said, and they “have more than proved themselves.”
“They’ve been deployed, they’re serving, they’re meeting all the same standards,” he said. “President Trump didn’t claim that this was arising out of some problems that are occurring.”
Minter added that Trump, through the executive order, “openly expressed his animosity and hostility towards transgender people.” He pointed to the top of the order, which states that the “adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual’s sex conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life.” The order also says trans identities are “not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member.”
“The government can’t discriminate against a group of people because it doesn’t like them,” Minter said.
Emily Shilling, a commander and one of the highest-ranking out trans people in the Navy, said that following news of the renewed ban, her colleagues have reached out to say they support her.
“Everybody is rallying behind me, but they always have, because I’ve shown up every day,” said Shilling, who is also president of SPARTA, an advocacy organization for trans service members and veterans. “Me being transgender is the least interesting thing there is about me at work. I’m a good leader, and they’re worried about their leader.”
A 2014 report by UCLA Law’s Williams Institute and a 2016 report from the Rand Corp. — estimated there were 15,500 (Williams Institute) and between 2,150 and 10,790 (Rand Corp.) trans people serving in the US Military.
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