Warning: This article contains discussion of discrimination against the trans community which some readers may find distressing.
The U.S. Supreme Court has decided that the Trump administration is now permitted to begin implementing its policy that prohibits transgender individuals from serving in the military.
In January, just a week after Donald Trump began his second term as the 47th president, he issued an executive order titled ‘Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness’.
This policy aimed to prevent transgender individuals from joining the military and mandated that current transgender service members be discharged from their positions.
Two national LGBTQ legal organizations, LGBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders and the National Center for Lesbian Rights, challenged Trump’s order with a lawsuit. In March, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes of Washington, D.C., blocked the order.
Despite ongoing legal challenges, on May 6, the Supreme Court ruled that Trump’s administration could proceed with enacting the policy.
The order claimed that the ‘pursuit of military excellence’ was being compromised to ‘accommodate political agendas or other ideologies’.
It further argued that ‘adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual’s sex conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle’.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of six active-duty transgender service members and two transgender individuals who wished to enlist, argued that the ban ‘reflects animosity toward transgender people because of their transgender status’.
When blocking the order in March, Judge Reyes stated it violated an equal protection clause by discriminating based on transgender status and sex, describing the language as ‘unabashedly demeaning’ and asserting that the ‘policy stigmatizes transgender persons as inherently unfit’ with its ‘conclusions bear[ing] no relation to fact’.
Reyes contended that the government could have developed a policy that balanced ‘the Nation’s need for a prepared military and Americans’ right to equal protection’, and noted they ‘still can’.
She added: “The Military Ban, however, is not that policy. The Court therefore must act to uphold the equal protection rights that the military defends every day.”
Nevertheless, the Supreme Court has now ruled in favor of Trump’s administration. An unsigned order was issued yesterday, with the three liberal justices of the court expressing their disagreement with the decision.
Human rights organizations have since voiced their opposition.
Lambda Legal and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation released a statement saying: “By allowing this discriminatory ban to take effect while our challenge continues, the Court has temporarily sanctioned a policy that has nothing to do with military readiness and everything to do with prejudice.”
“Transgender individuals meet the same standards and demonstrate the same values as all who serve. We remain steadfast in our belief that this ban violates constitutional guarantees of equal protection and will ultimately be struck down.”
If these issues have affected you and you wish to speak to someone confidentially, contact the LGBT national hotline at 888-843-4564, available Monday to Friday 4pm-12am ET and 12pm-5pm ET on Saturdays.