Trump issued his order just days after he returned to the Oval Office
A federal judge has blocked Donald Trump’s order which seeks to ban transgender people from enlisting or serving in the military.
Trump’s new initiative, titled “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness,” was unveiled just one week after his return to the Oval Office on January 20.
This policy argues that the pursuit of military excellence is being compromised to cater to political agendas and ideological shifts. It specifically asserts that the adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with one’s biological sex undermines a soldier’s commitment to the core values of honor, truth, and discipline that are central to military life.
The policy further states: “A man’s claim to be a woman, and the demand that others accept this as truth, contradicts the humility and selflessness required of a service member.”
According to a memo filed by the Defense Department and reported by NBC News, Trump’s policy prohibited transgender individuals from enlisting in the military and mandated the removal of current transgender service members from their roles.
However, on Tuesday, March 18, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes of Washington, D.C., issued a block on the order, ruling that it violates the equal protection clause of the Constitution, as it discriminates based on transgender status and sex.
Reyes described the ban as “soaked in animus,” further stating: “Its language is unabashedly demeaning, its policy stigmatizes transgender individuals as inherently unfit, and its conclusions are disconnected from reality.”
She added, “The cruel irony is that thousands of transgender service members have sacrificed—some risking their lives—to ensure the very equal protection rights the Military Ban seeks to deny them.”
Reyes emphasized that the government had the option to create a policy that balances “the Nation’s need for a prepared military and Americans’ right to equal protection,” noting that it “still can.” She stated, “The Military Ban, however, is not that policy.” The judge concluded, “The Court must act to uphold the equal protection rights that the military defends every day.”
Although Reyes issued her ruling on Tuesday, she delayed the preliminary injunction’s effect until Friday (March 21) to give Trump’s administration time to appeal her decision.
The move to block the order follows a lawsuit filed in January by two national LGBTQ legal organizations, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders and the National Center for Lesbian Rights. The lawsuit, brought on behalf of six active-duty transgender service members and two transgender individuals seeking to enlist, argued that the ban “reflects animosity toward transgender people because of their transgender status.”
