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A federal judge blocked the enforcement of President Donald Trump’s executive order on 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 was the second judge of the time against the administration, and both rulings came within hours of an extraordinary conflict as Trump temporarily sought to stop deportation and each third judge who caused rare responsibilities from Secretary John Roberts.
Reyes delayed the order until Friday morning, giving administrators time to appeal.
“The courts know that this opinion leads to intense public debate and appeal. In a healthy democracy, both are positive consequences,” writes Reyes. “But we should all agree that everyone who answered the call to serve deserves our gratitude and respect.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
The Army reserved Nicholas Talbott, one of the 14 transgender active duty military personnel appointed as plaintiffs in the suit, and said he was holding his breath as he waited to find out if he was away from the military next week.
“This is a very relief sigh,” he said. “This is everything I’ve ever wanted to do, this was my dream job and I finally got it.
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.
Reyes said she has not downplayed her decision to issue an injunction blocking Trump’s orders, noting that “over-judicial overreach is just as harmful as overreach.” However, she said it is also the responsibility of government departments to provide checks and balances to others, and the courts must “act to maintain the equal protection that the military defends every day.”
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.
At a governor’s meeting at the White House on Friday, President Trump asked Maine Gov. Janet Mills if he would comply with an order that would prevent him from competing in schools that receive federal funds.
“The cruel irony is that thousands of transgender soldiers have sacrificed putting their lives at risk in order to ensure that others have a very equal right of protection that the ban attempts to deny them,” Reyes writes.
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 separate from the military based on characteristics that are not related to proven capabilities,” the plaintiff’s lawyer wrote. “This is a harsh and reckless reversal of policy, slandering honorable trans soldiers, disrupting unit unit unit cohesion and weakening the military.”
Government lawyers said the Department of Defense has a history of disqualifying people from military service if they have physical or emotional disabilities, including mental health.
“In a non-problem context in this case, DOD’s professional military judgment about the risk of allowing individuals with physical or emotional disabilities to serve the military would be virtually unquestionable,” they wrote.
The plaintiff’s lawyers say Trump’s orders fit the pattern of discriminating against transgender people in his administration.
Federal judges in Seattle and Baltimore have separately suspended Trump’s executive orders for gender maintenance care for transgender youth under the age of 19.
Trump has also signed an order that intends to set new rules on how schools can teach about gender and prohibit trans athletes from participating in girls and women’s sports.
“From the start, this administration has led to stripping protections from trans people across multiple domains, including housing, social services, schools, sports, employment, international travel and family life,” the plaintiff’s lawyer wrote.
Talbot, 31, of Akron, Ohio, opened up in March 2024 as a trans person after fighting for about nine years to join the service. He said that his fellow soldiers gave him some good Flaks because he was much older than the other recruits, but never treated him differently by being a trance. Talbot expects his colleagues to be “very excited to be able to stay.”
“Now I can go back to focusing on what’s really important, and that’s my mission,” said Talbot, a platoon leader in the Military Police Department.
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