US President Donald Trump will speak at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC on March 14, 2025.
Robert Schmidt | AFP | Getty Images
A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked the US military from enforcing President Donald Trump’s executive order, and a lawsuit by 20 current and staff members challenge the measure while transgender people are banned from military service.
Washington District Judge Anna Reyes has discovered several January 27th orders issued by a Republican president targeting the legal rights of transgender Americans.
“The cruel irony is that thousands of transgender services members have sacrificed their lives at risk in order to ensure that the military ban has a very equal right to protect others to deny them,” Reyes said.
Reyes was appointed by President Joe Biden, Trump’s Democratic predecessor.
Jennifer Levy, the plaintiff’s lawyer, praised the court for acting “decisively and promptly.”
“This ruling will not draw a punch. The court has neatly documented the specific harm that the ban has inflicted on brave trans service members.
Representatives from the White House and Pentagon did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In response to Trump’s orders, the military said on February 11 that it would no longer allow transgender individuals to join the military and would halt implementation or promotion of procedures related to the gender transition of service members. Later that month, the military said it would begin banishing transgender members.
“Even in individual lives, the adoption of gender identities that contradict individual sexual conflict with soldiers’ commitment to an honorable, true, and disciplined lifestyle.”
Reyes said the government recognized that the plaintiffs were excellent soldiers and that “transgender people can have the mental, physical and mental health, selflessness, honor, integrity and discipline of warriors to ensure military excellence.”
“So why are you going to let them and other decorated soldiers be discharged? Cricket from the defendant on this important question,” Reyes said.
Trump issued a similar executive order during his first term. Meanwhile, transgender members who were already serving were allowed to remain.
The plaintiffs in the suit argued that the order was illegal and pointed to the 2020 U.S. Supreme Court that found employment discrimination against transgender people was a form of illegal sex discrimination.
Government lawyers have argued in court that the military has the right to prohibit people with certain conditions that are not suitable for services, including bipolar disorder and eating disorders. At a hearing on March 12, they told Reyes that they should leave it to the current administration’s decision that transgender people are not suited to service.
The judge repeatedly pushed their stances on them to justify with evidence, and expressed open anger at the language of orders that sometimes denigrate the character of trans people.
The military has around 1.3 million active duty officers, Department of Defense data shows. Transgender rights advocates say they have as many as 15,000 trans service members, but authorities say they are in small numbers.
